Escape
by MiSsYaNgEl
Summary: What happens when Syd meets up with her mother....nothing good. Final chpater is up. Please R&R.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. The talented Mr. JJ and co. do.

Author: Missy

Thanks to: Kristen, Nic, and Steph. And many thanks to Kristen for fixing this…you're the best.Also thanks to Jen and Mai and everyone else who didn't say it sucked.

Chapter 1

__

We've been driving for quite a while now and yet he still hasn't spoken a word. Its amazing how quiet Jack can stay, yet seem so interesting. I remember the first time I met him. He seemed to me like an average guy, self absorbed, boring job, beautiful daughter. Your typical American guy, but now my perspectives have changed. The man sitting next to me was nothing close to typical. Instead the man sitting next to me was an agent of the CIA. Who would have thought?   
  
_ After a while the silence was just too awkward for me, so I decided to break it.   
_ "I just want to say thanks and…and…how grateful I am for…"   
"You need not thank me, Mr. Tippin. I was only doing it for Sydney."  
"Oh… I see."  
"Although I need to know what Sark wanted with you; did he mention anything at all?"   
"No, just asked me how I came to know about the circumference. By the way, thanks for not telling me about it, they would have killed me for sure had I said anything."   
"That Mr. Tippin, was precisely the point." Jack said looking pleased with himself.  
"Well, now that I'm safe, how 'bout filling me in on what the hell it is I'm helping you do?"   
"That isn't possible."  
"Well, how can I even help you if I don't know what I'm doing?"  
Jack's jaw clenched and he looked at me, irritated. All I could think about is what he could do to me if his patience ran out. _Will, you idiot, apologize before he throws you out the car._ "I mean how am I supposed to know what we're dealing with here if you can't even tell me…sir," I gulped.  
_ I could tell by the look on Jack's face that he wanted to laugh, but he didn't. In fact his face began to change back to that cold expressionless one I had seen so many times before. I wondered if the guy had ever laughed at a joke in his life, or if he even knew what a joke was_.   
  
Jack sighed, "Mr. Tippin it's been a long day for you and for me. Let's just forget about this; they couldn't have possibly mentioned the circumference to you."   
_ Will, just have the balls to stand up to the guy. He did get you out of trouble, but he doesn't have to be an ass about it. You said your thank yous and now you don't owe the guy squat. After all he did get you into this mess in the first place._  
"With all do respect sir, what's that supposed to mean?"   
"Well Mr. Tippin I think it's pretty self-explanatory."   
"No it isn't, do you mind explaining it to me?"  
"Mr. Tippin I understand that you held your own back there and I applaud you for that, but it's pretty clear that your one purpose was to expose SD-6. Nothing more, nothing less. You were just a pawn in all this. Now lets end this discussion because frankly I'm getting a bit aggravated."   
_ Now you've done it Will, you got him pissed. Seriously how do you ever plan on getting with Sydney if you can't even score points with her dad? Again we're back on silent mode. Honestly, does he have any people skills at all?_   
"Mr. Bristow…"   
"Call me Jack".   
"Ok…Jack, are you taking me to another one of those safe houses? Because frankly there not very safe." _Whoa I think he's actually smiling at your comment. Yeah, it looks like a smile, well it kinda looks like a smile…oh, who the hell cares; it's a smile.  
_ "Yes Mr. Tippin I am, and I can assure you that no harm will come to you this time. I've taken extra precautions to make sure of it."   
"Jack…is Sydney gonna be there?" Shouldn't have mentioned Syd…change the subject. Too late.  
"Yes she will," he responded in that aggravated tone.  
"Oh…ok. Uh…Jack how long has Syd been working with the CIA"?   
"Seven years now," he said that so causally that it was obvious he wasn't trying to hide it from me anymore.   
_Seven years? I didn't realize Syd has been lying to us that long. Oh well, it doesn't matter anymore. My stomach started giving me signs that it was time to eat, although I'm surprised I'm even thinking about food, considering I've been tortured for God knows how long.   
_ "Hey do you think we can get me something to eat? Well that is, if we can get my teeth reinserted first."   
_ Before Jack could even have responded, his cell rang. Which meant it was time to go into silent mode again. When he finally got off the phone he had a look of absolute anger and shock on his face.   
_ "Who was that?"   
_Jack didn't even look like he heard me, and I was actually relieved. He finally stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse.   
_ "Get out."   
"Huh…you're just gonna leave me here?"   
"There are men inside waiting for you, knock on the door three times before opening it".

Before I could say anything else Jack had gotten in his car and had taken off.   
  


Will started up the steps leading up to the warehouse. _Knock three times before unlocking_.   
"Mr. Tippin, I'm glad you made it safely," said a man, who seemed nothing like a CIA agent compared to Jack.   
"Thanks, I'm glad too." He had manage to smile while he said that, even though it made his mouth throb with pain.   
"Well then, if you'd just follow me we can get you out of those clothes and cleaned up," the man said, returning the smile. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meanwhile, Jack was racing down the highway when his cell phone rang again.   
"Mr. Bristow," a man, who clearly had a Russian accent, said.  
"Who is this" Jack said hastily.   
"Alexander Khasinau, I'm speaking to you regarding your daughter Sydney."  
Jack's heart stopped, but he couldn't let Khasinau hear how the words bothered him for Sydney's sake, "What about Sydney?"   
"Well Mr. Bristow it seems that Sydney is now in our possession and unless you can get back here in under thirty minutes, we will be forced to kill her"  
"Wait you…"   
Too late. The line was dead. Jack had no time to waste, he raced through streets and allies not even paying attention to the three cars that had crashed behind him. He had to strategize exactly how he could get Sydney out of this mess, but there was too little information. In fact, Jack didn't even know if Sydney was alive or not. He hated himself for thinking that, but he knew he had to prepare for whatever was to come next.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  


Will followed this new agent up a long narrow hallway and into a room that seemed quite comfortable. He walked inside and stood next to the man. There was another man there; he was staring out the window not even paying attention to the men who had just entered the room. This man was nothing like the man standing next to him. He was tall and broad shouldered, reminding Will of Jack in a way. _Is this a requirement of how all CIA agents are supposed to look?_ From what Will could see through the reflection of the window, this man had quite a large scar across his cheek.   
"Uh hum…excuse me agent Simons, but Mr. Tippin has arrived."   
"Oh…so I see. Thank you Dr. Williams…now if you can only get Mr. Tippin cleaned up…" he said raising an eyebrow.   
"Oh how silly of me…I just thought that you might want to meet him first…never mind. If you'd just follow me, Mr. Tippin."  
"Please, call me Will."   
"Okay…Will," he said directing him toward another door. The room he led him into looked more like a hospital.   
"Will, there's a shower over there," he pointed down the hall, where there was a door with a sign on it.   
"Shower inside," Will read aloud.   
"Before you head down there, I have to take a quick look at you, if you don't mind? Just to make sure that nothing is broken, and that everything's working right."  
"Sure…um Doc, do you think you can do something about my teeth? I've been dying." 

"Well dentistry isn't really my department, but I can give you something to ease the pain until we can get you to a real dentist."  
"Thanks just as long as I can't feel it, that's all that matters."   
Dr. Williams gave Will a smile.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  


Jack finally made it back to the pharmaceutical warehouse. A man came from behind and cold-cocked him; Jack stumbled to the ground, as everything went black.   
"Dad…dad…wake up," said a familiar voice. It was Sydney.  
"Sydney…you all right?"   
Jack's vision was blurry, but he could still make out most of the objects around him.   
"Yeah Dad I'm fine, but…" Sydney was hesitating.   
"But what Sydney?"   
"Dad I saw Mom. She's here."   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  


Feeling the hot water against his body felt so exhilarating. Will could've stayed in that shower for hours. Dr. Williams' knock broke the experience, however.  
"Will excuse me, but agent Simons would like a word with you."  
"Sure, I'll be out in a sec."   
As he was getting dressed, he was wondering if this Simons guy was gonna give him the third degree. _Jack said you'd be fine, these guys aren't gonna hurt you. Just relax._   
"Mr. Tippin, so glad you can finally join me."  
"Please call me…"   
"Will, I know" he interrupted, "I'd much rather prefer to call you Mr. Tippin if you don't mind. That way if anything at all happened to you I won't feel as guilty, seeing as I didn't really get to know you on a personal level."  
_ Great, how comforting. Why is it that I always manage to meet assholes?   
_ "Let's skip all this crap, cause personally I've had it up to here with you people. I've had the shit kicked out of me, not to mention my teeth being pulled out and…I'm just sick of being treated as if I'm not human. So, you can either tell me what this is all about or you can just leave me the hell alone. I'm not a criminal, you know."   
Simons looked as if shocked by the comment. Will's mouth felt dry and he was having a hard time swallowing now.   
"Mr. Tippin, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable," he said casually, as if he had totally forgotten what he said. "I just want to know why you came here unaccompanied. What exactly happened to Jack? I was going to wait until you got yourself settled, but you took too long and well… frankly, patience is not one of my virtues."   
"I'm sorry about that…it's just that…"   
"I understand, you need not explain to me. It must be hard for a civilian without any government training to withstand such torture," he seemed like he was smirking when he said that.   
"Yeah it was…"  
"So again back to the topic of Agent Bristow, did he mention to you that he was heading back to the warehouse?"   
"Back to the warehouse…what, he went back?"   
"So you didn't know," by the sound of it, he seemed to be accusing Will of something.   
"No I didn't, all Jack told me was to get out and to meet you guys here."  
"I see, then that will be all, Mr. Tippin."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


Jack couldn't quite comprehend what Sydney was saying.   
"Sydney what are you talking about?" He demanded.   
"Dad… Mom's here and Khasinau works for her," she blurted out.   
This was all too much for him to take in. _Laura "The Man" how? Wasn't Khasinau her employer? This doesn't make sense…then she was really using me…I mean no one gave her orders to use me, instead she did it out of her own will…_ Jack's thoughts immediately went to the Laura of so long ago. _I guess the chances of Laura…Irina whatever they call her; ever loving me was slim to none.   
_ "Dad are you ok?"   
"I'm fine Sydney. I'm just trying to figure out how to get out of here," he lied.   
In fact he had no idea how to get out. The room was quite small with no seeable way of escaping, and he was sure he counted four men walking back and forth outside the door.   
"Dad I already tried escaping, it's no use. They have the place pretty well guarded."   
"Well, we'll just have to figure a way to distract them then."   
"How?"  
"Can you reach into my pocket?"  
"Yeah I think so."   
" Good, there's a pill inside. Take it and help me put it inside my mouth."  
"What for?"   
"Once this pill gets wet, it starts to foam. Once the foam is released, you call one of the guards for help, pretending I'm ill. Then I'll take him out and get his gun. Okay, now hurry up we haven't got much time. Someone could come in any minute now."  
"All right… I've got the pill, but I can't reach your mouth from here."  
"Hold on."   
Jack rocked his chair back and forth until it fell behind Sydney. She dropped the pill inside his mouth. As soon as Sydney saw the foam, she began to scream for help. Her screams alerted a guard almost instantly.  
"What was that?"   
"I don't know, let's go check it out."  
"Help him, please help him!"   
The guards looked at Jack and then said something to one another. Sydney translated what one of the guards said, "What's wrong with him?"   
"I don't know. Well then go see, before the guy dies on us" the guard said looking worried.   
"Fine, go wait outside. I'll take care of this."   
"Fine, I'll be right here."   
As the guard came closer to Jack, Jack took him out with a kick to the stomach and then one final kick to the face. Sydney watched her father handle the guard with such ease, and could tell that he definitely hadn't forgotten his field training. Soon the other guard returned, and was headed straight for Jack. Sydney gave him one quick jab to the face with her foot and he was out cold. Finally Jack was able to free himself and Sydney from the restraints. Sydney stared at him with shocked admiration. Jack looked at his daughter's face and was puzzled.   
"What?"   
Sydney shook the look off her face and simply responded, "Nothing."   
"Well then we better get out of here," Jack said, almost trying to smile.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  


"What do you mean that's all? Did something happen to Sydney? Is that why Jack took off?"  
"Mr. Tippin, right now I can't tell you anything."   
"What do you mean, you can't tell me anything? If this is about Sydney, I should have the right to know," Will said, almost out of breath.  
"Really Mr. Tippin, why should you have the right to know?" he said bitterly. "You know you're just like Agent Vaughn. Blinded by his own emotions, letting this girl compromise his judgement."   
"What…Agent Vaughn? Who's he? Besides, I'm no agent. Sydney is my friend, I have every right to worry about her."  
"Never mind, Mr. Tippin, he is none of your concern as well."  
_Could Syd be seeing someone? No it can't be. Can it?"_  
"No you got this all wrong I'm just…I'm just concerned about Sydney's safety, that's all…because she's my friend."   
"Oh I see" Simons said nearly rolling his eyes, "Well then Mr. Tippin I'm sorry if it seemed like I had jumped to conclusions, but I still can't give you any information regarding Jack and Sydney Bristow's whereabouts. And, if you continue to pester me, I will have to personally restrain you. Believe me, I have the authority to do so."  
"Fine, I'm leaving"   
"Good bye, Mr. Tippin."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  


"Dad wait, we have to go find Vaughn."  
"Sydney we don't have time for this. I'm sure Vaughn made it out of here, and is back at the safe house with Will and the others."   
"But that's just it Dad, Vaughn didn't make it out. Remember how I said that the circumference was like the size of a shoe? Well I was wrong; it was bigger than that, much bigger. And…"   
By that time Jack had already finished her sentence for her: "And when you destroyed it, water erupted and flooded the entire room and corridor."   
Sydney was surprised how much her father knew. "Yes, but I managed to get away only…only Vaughn was there with me and…"   
"Sydney!" Jack interrupted, "we really must get going now before more guards come."  
It shamed him that that was all he could say to comfort his daughter, but there just wasn't any time for her to get emotional. Especially in the situation they both were in. She looked at him with those big expressive eyes, as if begging him to help her find Vaughn. As much as he wanted to give in, he couldn't.   
Jack opened the door and motioned Sydney toward it.   
"Dad," Sydney said, "I just can't leave knowing that Vaughn might still be alive."  
"Sydney," Jack said hoarsely, "We don't have time for this."   
"I know that Dad, that's why I'm not going to waste anymore of your time or mine. You know I'm not leaving without him."   
Jack knew that Sydney was stubborn and would not accept "no" for an answer. He hesitated for a moment.   
"Alright," he said, finally giving in, not so much to her words but to those eyes.   
"But you have to listen to me Sydney, you can look for Vaughn but if there isn't any trace of him, you get the hell out of here as fast as you can." Sydney nodded.   
"Sydney, don't nod, promise me."   
"I promise, Dad."   
"Alright, go."   
As Jack and Sydney were about to go their separate ways, she called out to her father, "Dad?"  
"Hmmm," he asked absently.  
"Nothing, it's just that…" before she could finish her sentence, she embraced him. She didn't even care anymore if he wouldn't hug her back; she just clasped her arms around him tightly. To her surprise, Jack did return the hug. Sydney couldn't remember the last time she had hugged her father. As Sydney was reminiscing silently in her mind, Jack slowly pulled away. Before he could fully let go Sydney held him close to her and softly whispered, "Thank you."   
This moment also made Jack think of the times he had held Sydney. The good times, times when they considered themselves "family." When she finally pulled away from him and was turning to the door, he called out to her. "Sydney wait…"  
Jack cautiously approached her and for a moment just stared at her. Then he finally did what he wanted to do for twenty-five years, he kissed her forehead softly, and barely audibly, whispered, "Be careful."   
  
  
At those words, Sydney almost burst into tears, but found herself not being able to do so. _I guess I'm all cried out_, she thought to herself.   
After that Sydney and Jack took one final look at each other and went off their separate ways.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Meanwhile, back in the warehouse, Will was furiously pacing the room. "Will, you keep that up and you'll dig a hole through the floor," Dr. Williams said, smiling.  
"I don't understand why everything around you people has to be such a big secret? I mean…all I want to know is if Sydney's all right." Will took a deep breath and sighed "I don't know what I'll do if Sydney doesn't make it back here. It's because of me that she had to do this…but I guess you already know that."  
Dr. Williams looked at Will with sympathy. "Will, I can understand that you feel you are to blame here, but you're not. From what I hear, your friend Sydney is quite an extraordinary young woman. She's bound to get here untouched, you'll see."  
As comforting as that sounded, Will still couldn't help but think of the horrible things that could've happened to Sydney.   
"Thanks Doc," Will said, sighing.  
"You're very welcome, Will, and don't worry she'll be here" Williams said, while giving Will a pat on the shoulder.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
As Sydney was running through the West wing, she noticed a long corridor leading to a door with an electronic lock beside it. She hurriedly made her way over there and headed towards the lock. Sydney looked at it, and realized that it wasn't the kind of electronic lock that was very hard to break into, and for that, she was grateful. The hard part though, is getting to the lock's wiring. For Sydney to get to it, she'd have to break the front part of the lock open. But with what? She didn't have one of Marshall's gadgets with her, so it would pretty much be impossible for her to get in. Then Sydney noticed ES-43 written on the side of the lock. This lock's automated by a main computer system. The problem is, where is it?  
Sydney started heading back from where she came, and headed up a flight of stairs she saw a while ago. As Sydney was about to open the door, she heard guards heading her way. She knew she couldn't go back down, because they'd spot her for sure. Sydney looked around and then… CLICK, the door opened.   
Luckily before the guards walked through the door, Sydney had made her way up to some pipes and clung on. This experience made Sydney remember the time she was in this same position, while she had been trying to locate the coding machine back in London. 

When the guards were out of her sight she made her way down and inside the door. As Sydney was exploring she noticed a sign that read Security Section. This has to be where the main computer is located. Sydney made her way through another long corridor and listened for any human activity. _Yes, no one's inside_. 

Sydney cautiously made her way inside; and to her surprise, there it was. She hurried over and spotted a security section card beside the computer. She inserted the card into the computer, and once she gained access, popped the card back out.

Once Sydney was in, she unlocked two of the main entrance doors and two of the doors in the West wing. Sydney knew not to unlock all the doors, since the guards patrolling the building would surely notice.

Then Sydney spotted something. She saw her mother and Khasinau heading toward the West wing, and unlocking the door that Sydney had previously tried to get into. Sydney used the surveillance cameras to take a look inside and to her surprise…Vaughn was there.   
  
"Wake up…wake up!" Khasinau demanded, slapping Vaughn's face. Vaughn still did not respond.  
"Here give him this," Irina said, handing a vile filled with purple liquid to Khasinau. Khasinau took the vile and inserted a needle inside it.   
From what Sydney could see, Khasinau had injected the liquid inside Vaughn. After a few minuets Vaughn was starting to regain consciousness. At this sight, Sydney was relieved and finally let out a breath of air.  


Vaughn was slowly starting to regain his vision, then he saw a women in front of him.  
"Well Mr. Vaughn it's a pleasure that you can join us, on this quite unfortunate evening."  
"Pleasure's all mine" Vaughn said smirking, trying to hide his uneasiness towards this woman.  
"Hmm, I bet it is. Tell me something, Mr. Vaughn, what exactly were you trying to accomplish here…besides destroying the very thing that I worked so hard to have created."  
"It depends, who's asking"?  
"Irina Dreveko".  
That information caused Vaughn's forehead to crease, and his eyes to bulge out a bit.  
"You look surprised Mr.Vaughn," Irina said, smirking and looking quite pleased with herself.   
"Young and so foolish, this isn't surprising since all you CIA men act the same. Acting to what your "heart" has to say and to whatever impulses you may have, instead of acting on pure intellect."  
Vaughn noticed that her lip twitched when she mentioned the word heart.  
"When the CIA gets word that you're still alive, you'll…"  
"I'll be what Mr. Vaughn…taken into custody," she said sheepishly.   
"You really think that your pathetic intelligence agency can get a hold of me. A bit of a… what is the term you Americans use? Ah yes, a bit of a news flash, Mr. Vaughn, they aren't even certain if I'm alive or not."  
"Maybe not, but they will notice that I've gone missing; and trust me, they will come looking for me. And when they do, you'll be exposed."  
"Mr. Vaughn, let ask you something. Why do you suppose my activities have gone unnoticed for so long? Did you really think that I could have gotten this far without the help of some gullible little twit, who is in fact working for the CIA"?  
"A mole….how….who"?  
"That doesn't matter, what matters is…."  
BEEP, BEEP.  
"For God's sake Alexander, what is it?!"  
"Its Sark, Irina it appears that there seems to be some sort of emergency," Khasinau said, looking worried.  
"So I hear. Well then, Mr. Vaughn," Irina said, turning to face him, "we'll finish our discussion later."  
  
Irina and Khasinau were now exiting the room. Sydney was closely following them, and then realized that they were heading up the flight of stairs. Sydney was now panicking, and was trying desperately to figure out how she could possibly escape. Then she headed toward an open window, and saw a truck about to pass by. _I can't leave Vaughn; but then again if I get caught I won't be able to help him either_. Sydney sighed and whispered to herself.   
"Alright this is it".   
Sydney took five long steps back and started running toward the window, jumping out and landing on top of the truck's cargo. After Sydney's landing she felt a sharp pain, and realized that the pain was coming from her ankle. Sydney knew that it wasn't broken, since she could still move it. _It's just a sprain._ Sydney started to feel her eyes getting heavier, so she rested her head on her arm, and lay back so that the driver would not take notice that she was onboard.   
  
As Irina and Khasinau entered the room they headed toward the computer.  
"Have the guards started to search the building yet?"  
"Yes. I'm using the surveillance system to locate them as well," Khasinau said, while hurriedly pounding on computer keys.  
Khasinau pounded his fist on the table, "Damn it, they're gone, Irina". 

****

  
  
Will was now growing impatient.  
"Doc I can't take it anymore, we gotta find Sydney."  
"Whoa there Will, just calm down a bit huh," Williams said, trying to simmer Will down.  
Will gave Williams a look and responded by saying, "Calm down…. I think I've been more than calm given the situation that I was in."  
"Yes, Will but…"  
"But what?" Will interrupted.  
"Look doc, I don't mean to be a pest here, but it's been over an hour and Sydney still hasn't made it over here. Not to mention Jack storming off, not evening telling us that he was heading back to that hellhole. So excuse me if I'm acting a "little" crazy," Will said, almost out of breath.  
"Alright Will, if you're really that worried, then we should talk to Simons. He'll most likely know what to do about this."  
Will just about felt like hugging Williams, but knew he shouldn't do that. So instead, he just said, "Thanks."  
  
Will and Dr. Williams made their way to where agent Simons was. Dr. Williams knocked on the door, " Agent Simons?"  
The agent had been reading a book and had been quite taken by it, until the doctor's knock interrupted him, broke the experience.   
"Yes, Dr. Williams, what is it?"  
The doctor entered the room with Will behind him.  
"Sorry to bother you agent Simons, but Will here is quite worried about Jack and Sydney, and frankly, so am I. Don't you suppose it's just about time to contact Devlin? I mean they have been gone for more than five hours, and from what I've heard, their mission shouldn't have taken that long."  
Simons clenched his jaw and walked over to Williams until they were both face to face.   
"So you're supposing that we should call Devlin and have him extract them?" Simons asked, squinting his eyes a bit.  
"Why yes, I am, agent Simons. I may be a doctor but I am aware of certain CIA procedures."  
Simons never expected the doctor to talk back to him, since he was considered such a pushover.  
"Listen, the both of you, because I'm only going to say this once…" but before Simons could finish, Jack burst through the door. After that, the whole room went quiet, all that could be heard was Jack's footsteps.  
"Simons, has Sydney made contact yet?" Jack said completely ignoring the other two men in the room.  
"No she hasn't."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When Sydney awoke she realized that the truck had come to a stop in front of a tiny restaurant. She got out of the truck and slowly limped across the street. Sydney didn't know where she was, so she decided to ask a stranger, who was about to enter a bookstore.   
"Excuse me," she said in weak Taiwanese, so that the woman in front of her would think of her as a tourist.   
"Do you mind telling me what City I'm in?"  
"No not at all," the women said in English, giving Sydney a smile.  
"Oh you speak English?" Sydney said, now in a Southern accent.  
"Yes I do, and to answer your question you're in Sanch'ung."  
Sydney thanked the woman and slowly walked away from her, but before she got a chance to walk any further the woman called out to her.   
"Excuse me miss, but are you in need of some help," the woman said in a concerned tone.  
"I noticed you limping. Are you alright?"  
"Oh….yes I'm fine," Sydney lied.  
"I…I just had gotten lost and then my car broke down. So then I had to walk over here, and a man on his bicycle knocked me down."  
"Oh my…are you sure you're alright then?"  
"Yes, I'm fine; it's just a sprain."  
"Well, do you need a car to get where you're going? I'm sure it would be of great help to you," she said offering Sydney her keys.  
"No, I couldn't….really it's fine. I'll just wait for my friends to pick me up. I'm sure they've noticed I've been gone for so long."  
Sydney knew she had no money to call her father, and she also knew she'd put him at risk if she asked him to come for her. So she re-thought her decision. _The safe house is pretty far, and I'll get there a lot faster if I drove. _Finally, she accepted the woman's offer.  
"Now, are you sure it won't be of trouble to you?" Sydney said in her southern accent again.  
"No, no it's fine. My brother owns this shop, and he lives just upstairs so I'll wait there until you can return my vehicle."  
Sydney thanked the women again and drove off. As Sydney left, the woman took out a cell phone and started dialing numbers. The phone started to ring and a man, who had a Russian accent picked up.  
"Khasinau. Who is this?"  
"It's Chang sir… we've found her."

Chapter 5  
  
Jack was now starting to worry more than ever, but he certainly did not show it. Unlike Will, who was still continuing to pace the room. _That's it, I'll just walk up to Jack and casually ask him to get Syd out of there._   
"Jack, we need to get Sydney out of there now. Extract her, her life's at risk!"  
_Way to act cool Will._  
"Will, we just can't barge in there without a plan, especially now that they know I've escaped. That place would most certainly be heavily guarded by now, and just coming in there without the proper equipment or manpower would be suicide!"  
Will was now full or rage, which surprised him since he'd never quite lost his temper before. All this rage caused Will to blurt out to Jack in an unmannered tone.  
"So what, we're just gonna let her die then, is that it? What kind of father are you anyway?"  
After that, Jack just exploded. He grabbed Will by the neck and knocked him down to the floor.  
"Don't you ever…and I mean ever, tell me what kind of father I am to Sydney! You don't know the kind of life I lead," the enormous amount of pressure that Jack had around Will's neck was just too unbearable. Will struggled to get Jack off with a couple of jabs to the face and arms, all of which seemed to have no effect on him.   
"And you especially don't know what it's like knowing that your only daughter is caught in all of it."  
That was the last that Jack had said before he finally regained control of himself. Jack got up and dusted himself off. As Jack watched Will gasp for air, he was utterly ashamed of what he had just done. This had never happened to Jack before; he never felt any remorse for the things that he has done.

Jack was beginning to wonder if he was losing his edge, and that scared him quite a bit. He offered his hand to Will, and helped him up. That being done, Jack and Will just looked at one another. Will had a distinct impression that Jack was about to apologize to him, but Jack didn't. Instead Jack just turned on his heel and left the room.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sydney had been driving for nearly forty minutes now, and there was still no sign of the safe house. She pulled over the side of the road and started to search for a map in the glove compartment. To her surprise, she found something even better… a cell phone. Sydney started to dial numbers, and waited for the phone to ring. After a few rings, Jack anxiously picked up the phone.  
"Sydney?"  
"Yeah dad…it's me."  
At the sound of her voice, Jack was ultimately relieved.  
"Where are you…are you all right…did you find Vaughn"?   
Sydney paused for a while and then responded by telling her father that Vaughn was not with her. When Jack heard this, he was surprised that Sydney remained so calm; then she began to speak again.  
"I don't exactly know…I'm somewhere," Sydney began to look for any signs telling her where she was. Then, she spotted one.  
"I'm on Tunhua Road. How far am I from the safe house?"  
"About an hour and fifteen minutes to be exact. Just keep heading North until you see the Sungshan Airport, then head West for about four miles, and head North again until you get to Chilung. I'll meet up with you there."  
For a moment Sydney just listened to her father's breath from the other line. Sydney's silence was beginning to worry Jack.  
"Sydney, did you get that?"

"Yeah dad, I got it…I'll see you there."  
After that Sydney hung up the phone and started to drive again.

****

  



	2. Default Chapter

"Irina, I've just received word from Chang. It appears that Sydney is heading to Chilung."  
"Are you certain?" Irina asked, giving Khasinau a questioning look.  
Khasinau didn't know whether to take that as an insult or not.  
"Yes, I'm certain; we've been tracking her ever since she left Sanch'ung. We've even intercepted a transmission from the cell phone she used. It appears that she's meeting Jack there as well."  
Irina's expression changed to a cold one at the mention of Jack's name. Khasinau knew mentioning Jack would cause sparks to go off in her head, and he enjoyed watching her reaction. Instead Irina ignored Khasinau's comment, and continued to speak.  
"Very well then, have Sark assemble a team of men, and have him meet us there."  
"With all do respect, Irina, how do you suppose we capture them? I believe we had them under our possession before and they easily managed to slip away. So, you'll excuse me if I'm a bit skeptical. If I were you, I'd re-think my plan," he said, raising an eyebrow.  
Irina paused a bit before answering.  
"Thank you for your…kind suggestion, Alexander, but I think we'll continue to go with this plan. After all we do have something that belongs to them," she said smiling sheepishly.  
"That's right, Agent Vaughn…correct?"  
"Precisely, now if you could…"  
"One question Irina," Khasinau interrupted.  
"What makes you think they'll negotiate? After all, Agent Vaughn is but one man, and he's not highly worth risking their lives for. I'm sure by now Jack is smart enough to know that."  
"Trust me I know my daughter and…"  
"You know your daughter," he said bitterly.  
"I've had one of our own keeping a close watch over her, and from the surveillance videos that they've brought back, she'll definitely risk it."  
"Well, then I'll have Sark assemble the men right away."

  
  
As Sydney was driving down the road, her mind started to set on Vaughn again. She was quickly remembering how she had left him, and how helpless he had looked. Sydney couldn't bare to think about that, so she quickly tried to erased the thought from her mind, but found it quite hard. Instead that image kept repeating over and over again.

After a while a white van passed her by, and she saw writing on the side door. It read, "Lee's Delivery," in Taiwanese. She then decided to play a game with herself, trying to say "delivery" in all the languages she knew.

This helped Sydney a bit. For awhile, she almost forgot about Vaughn. Sydney then spotted the airport, and knew she was getting closer. After four miles, she headed straight up North and finally arrived at Chilung.

Sydney drove around trying to spot her father's car, and a few moments later she found it. Only the man that was inside the car wasn't her father. Instead she noticed that it was a man with quite a large scar on his cheek. Sydney remembered this man before. She remembered bumping into him once at Langley. She then got out of the car and approached him.  
"Agent Bristow, I'm agent Simons," he said shaking her hand.  
Sydney had a confused look on her face.  
"Where's my father…is he ok?" she said worriedly.   
"Your father is quite alright. He just thought it would be better if he stayed back at the safe house with Will. Just to be sure that there are no surprises."  
The way Simons said that made Sydney feel as if he were trying to get something out to her.  
Sydney knew something was wrong now. She knew her father and he just wouldn't switch their plans without informing her first.  
"So, are you ready Agent Bristow?" he asked, motioning her inside.  
As Sydney was about to enter she glanced at the rearview mirror, and noticed the same white van that had passed her by earlier. Inside the van was Sark. Sydney panicked, and when she turned around to warn Simons, he was holding a gun.  
"Simons what…"  
"I'm sorry."  
After that, everything went black.

****

  
  
Jack awoke to find himself, Williams, and Will handcuff to pipes. He viciously tried pulling at the pipes but found it hopeless, for the pipes were to firmly placed to be broken. Then he heard footsteps heading their way. The door suddenly burst open and there were three men leading Vaughn to a chair. They tightly and securely strapped Vaughn's feet together that it looked to Jack as if the circulation could be cut off quite quickly. Then the men handcuffed Vaughn's hands to the back of his chair, and left.  
"Vaughn you all right"  
Vaughn paused for a moment feeling a sharp pain in his neck.  
"Yeah….where's Sydney".  
"Not here. Worst case scenario they probably met up with her back at Chilung".  
"Do you think they'll…." Vaughn's voice started to drift.  
"They'll what… kill her? No she seems to be of some value to Laura".  
"Well what use could Sydney possibly be to her".  
"That I don't know, but I'm sure we'll see sooner or later".  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Irina what do you really plan on doing with Sydney. This whole Rambaldi prophet situation is really quite implausible. Don't you think?" he said biting into an apple.  
Irina paused for a moment then smiled at him.  
"Sark my young friend just have a little faith in me. When all of this is through you'll not only be rich…but you'll believe as well".  
Sark nodded and continued to chew his apple, "what about Khasinau, does he believe as well?"   
For a moment Irina just stared at the ground before answering him, "I don't know what my father believes in anymore" she said absentmindedly.  
Sark choked on his apple, "your father"!  
"Yes I know…a bit of a shock isn't it?" she said turning away from him.  
"But how"?  
"It was back then when the KGB were in desperate need of agents. They needed to insure their survival so they had men like Alexander perform… "special" duties".  
"Oh….funny how you two don't act as if you were related".   
"Well Alexander was more of a mentor to me than a father. Now enough of this, has Sydney awoke yet?" she said quickly changing the subject.  
"I'm not sure I'll have someone check on her," Sark said leaving the room.   
  
**   
**  
Sydney awoke to the sounds of toppling objects. As she slowly turned her head she saw Simons through the transparent window, being brutally beaten by Khasinau's men. From what it seems Simons was being asked a series of questions and was being very uncooperative. Thus resulting in his beatings. After the men could no longer get any useful information out of him they threw him in the same room with Sydney.  
"So… finally getting what you deserve?" she said bitterly.  
"I don't have to explain anything to you" Simons said spitting out blood.  
"And if you really must know I did what I did to save not only your father's life but your friend's as well. They would have surely killed them if I had not brought you in…so don't you even think for a second that I was about to betray my country. I have thirty years of experience plus a scar to prove my loyalty to this country.   
Sydney was embarrassed by her previous comment, so she just faced they other way ignoring Simons. Until he started to laugh. Sydney looked at him confused and then rolled her eyes.  
"What can possibly be so funny"?  
"You know agent Bristow… in my whole life I've only had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting one incompetent person. Now you're lucky number two!" he said laughing hysterically.  
Something wasn't right about Simons and Sydney sensed it. He doesn't seem like the kind of person that blurts insane remarks like that, at least not in front of a person.  
"Simons are you alright"?  
"Of course I'm alright…." Simons paused a bit before speaking again.  
"I'm only speaking to you this way because I've just had Sodium pentothal injected in me. So you'll have to excuse my rude behavior because right now I'm speaking my mind.   
There goes the sarcasm again, Sydney thought. Sydney was also concerned that Simons might have leaked information to Khasinau.  
"Did you tell them anything".  
Simons looked irritated with her; "of course not…I never even had anything to begin with".  
Sydney eyed him with suspicion. She didn't know how long the sodium pentothal was in him, so she wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not.  
"I'm sure my father told you something. How else would you have agreed to come here"?  
"Your father is a good man. He saved my life once…and for that he has my trust. He doesn't have to explain anything to me…whatever he's doing must be for a good cause".  
Simons closed his eyes and gave Sydney a weak smile,"now anymore questions because I feel that I might just pass out"?  
Sydney noticed that behind the hard exterior that most people show, they're really just trying to hide their true selves. She understood that quite well especially since their jobs required it, because if you can't hide that than your as good as dead in their business.   
A few minutes later Sark came in with four men by his side. Sark took out a gun and instructed his men to untie Sydney, but before doing so he told her that she shouldn't try anything bold for her and her father's sake.  
"Agent Bristow, if you'd just follow me I'll take you to your mother. I understand you two haven't been properly introduced".  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Jack, Will, Williams, and Vaughn waited anxiously for word of Sydney's arrival.  
"Jack", Will said, "do you think they have Sydney already"?  
"I suppose so she…" Jack was interrupted by Khasinau and his men.  
"You four come with me".  
Khasinau turned to face Jack and Vaughn "And if you two try anything "heroic" we won't hesitate to kill Sydney".  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sydney sat in a room by herself nervously awaiting her mother. She waited five maybe ten minutes before her mother entered the room, but she wasn't alone. A young woman, just around Sydney's age accompanied her. Maybe younger even younger. In fact this girl strangely resembled her. No it can't be can it?  
"Sydney I've been awaiting this moment for thirty years. Now we can all finally be reunited". Irina grinned, "One big happy "family".  
"What…you're lying!" Sydney screamed.  
"Sydney my sweet Sydney" Irina said stroking her, "why do you think you two resemble each other. Surely you don't think this can be a coincidence"?  
"You were pregnant"?  
"Of course I was", Irina spoke casually as if this was not a big issue.  
Sydney couldn't stand to face her mother; instead she turned her head before speaking to her.  
"Does dad know"?  
"No he doesn't…but he will soon".   
  
  
The four men were led into a room with a view directly showing Sydney. Sydney saw that Khasinau's men were seating them facing her.  
"Are we ready?" Irina asked.   
Khasinau inspected that the men were strapped securely before answering.  
"Yes, we're ready to begin".  
Irina nodded in acknowledgment.  
"Sydney I have a very important question to ask you. One that you will choose to answer wisely. I'm sure you're aware of a prophet by the name of Rambaldi. He has depicted the future many times and was correct in all of his foretelling. Now he has predicted that I, will be one of the most powerful people".  
"And that has to do with me because?"Sydney interrupted.  
Irina gave Sydney a glare and then continued to speak.  
"It has to do with you plenty Sydney. What I'm about to offer you right now is one of the greatest gifts a mother can give a child".  
"What is that exactly"?  
Irina looked at Sydney enthusiastically, "the chance to join me in my greatness Sydney. Think about what we can do…what we can accomplish…together"?  
Sydney turned to look at her father, she could tell that he was worried.  
"Well Sydney…will you join me"?  
Sydney glared at her mother for several moments before answering.  
"NO".  
Irina had a look of disappointment on her face but quickly shook it off.  
"I'm sorry to hear that Sydney…I'm sure you'll change your mind though".  
"You seem so sure of yourself".  
"Oh but I am. I know you more than you think I do Sydney. I know that you can't stand to watch someone die," she said signaling Khasinau from behind.  
Sydney gave her mother a worried look, "what…what are you talking about"?  
"You'll see soon enough".  
Irina walked over to a table and pushed the intercom button.  
"Send in Vera".  
Khasinau nodded and turned leaving the room. He soon returned with Vera Sydney's sister. Vera walked over to Dr. Williams and slit his wrist slightly allowing enough blood to make Sydney and the others to panic.  
"Stop it"!  
Irina knew she hit a nerve and signaled Vera to continue. Vera slit the other wrist and this time blood gushed out even quicker than before. Dr. Williams was screaming with pain. This bothered Vera somehow. His constant screams caused her to stop, jerking her head and closing her eyes. Jack watched to see if Williams was all right but from what he saw Williams had no chance of surviving. For the blood was now gushing out from his wrists even quicker. Irina walked over to the intercom and yelled into it.  
"Vera continue…NOW"!  
At the sound of her mother's voice she quickly regained control of herself and finished Williams off by plunging a knife into his left side abdomen and making an upward cut. Blood quickly seeped thorough William's clothes and stained his chair. At the sight of this the men in the room with Williams could no longer watch and turned their heads. Will started to heave, and Sydney could no longer watch as well.  
"Why are you doing this…you've just killed an innocent man".  
"Sydney choose. How many more have to die for you to realize your true destiny"?  
Sydney started to weep.  
"I'll leave you to re-think your decision over. But when I return I hope that you'll tell me something I want to hear"?   
  



	3. Default Chapter

****

Chapter 3  
  
Before Irina left the room she went over to the intercom and insisted that Khasinau meet her outside.  
"Alexander would you kindly escort Jack to an empty room. I'd like to have a word with him before we proceed with anything else".  
Khasinau gave her a look, "certainly Irina…but what may I ask is the purpose of this conversation". I thought we were to dispose of Jack when we captured him. I'm surprised he's still alive," he said sarcastically.  
"That is none of your concern. Just do as your told, and enough of this foolishness. Honestly I'm starting to question where your loyalty really lye".  
Khasinau was outraged by her comment.  
"I have been completely loyal to you! But I'm beginning to worry that you're taking this prophecy too seriously".  
"How can I not! I thought you wanted power"?  
"I do, but at certain limits! Look at what you are doing to your children for God's sake! Vera can't even tell reality from that insidious program that you… "  
"Enough!" Irina interrupted.  
"What I did for Vera was for her own good. She's a good agent but not good enough. She started feeling regret and sympathy for those she's killed. She started to become like Sydney and that compromises everything. I didn't want her to lose her "talent" so I implanted the microchip in her. Just so her emotions won't distract her. I never intended her any harm".  
"Well you must've not programmed her right. Seeing how she did get emotional, and what if she was performing those procedures to a dangerous foe. What then"?  
"Just get me Jack!" she said turning away from him.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two men burst through the door and were heading to Jack. Sydney could see that they were uniting him and a sudden feeling of horror struck her. _Please God don't let them kill him_. Sydney also saw Vera and Khasinau standing at the door. She looked at Vaughn and he tried to give her a comforting look, but even that didn't work. Jack turned and gave Sydney one final look before the guards shoved him out the door.   
After the guards had escorted Jack to an empty room Khasinau instructed them to leave, leaving Khasinau, Vera, and him to be alone.  
"If you hurt my daughter I'll make sure you…"  
"Calm down Jack I'm not going to hurt Sydney. Irina on the other hand…" Khasinau's voice drifted.  
"Well there's just no telling what she's capable of".  
Jack raised his eyebrow and gave Khasinau a puzzled look.  
"Why are you telling me this"?  
"Because Jack Sydney…she's my granddaughter. And Vera here is your daughter".  
"I don't know what you're trying to pull here Khasinau, but whatever it is I'm not buying it".  
Jack turned to face Vera and to his shock he did see the resemblance.  
"She has your eyes doesn't she"?  
Jack looked at Khasinau in bewilderment and answered him hastily.  
"How"?  
Khasinau took out seven neatly folded pieces of paper and handed them to Jack.  
"I knew you'd ask that so I took the liberty of copying Vera's file for you. DNA, birth certificate, everything you need to know about your… daughter".  
Jack sat quietly for a moment trying to take in all the new information that he had just learned. Then the silence was quickly broken by Kahsinau.  
"I must have those back now Jack. Irina will be here any moment".  
Jack handed Khasinau the files while taking a quick glance at Vera. The resemblance is uncanny. Vera to could not help but look at Jack. _He looks so strong as if nothing can break him._ As soon as Jack noticed Vera gazing at him she quickly turned away.  
"Well it's just about time that I fetch Irina. Vera you watch him and Jack… I regret telling you but I thought it's just "right" that you should know".  
As soon as Khasinau left, the room was completely silent until to Jack's surprise Vera started to speak to him.  
"I've always wanted to know what you were like. I've heard stories from my "mother" but she's…"  
" I believe the word you're searching for is deceitful".  
Vera gave Jack a smile and continued to speak.  
"I never wanted to be an agent…but I never had a choice" she said shaking her head.  
"And I know you may think of me as a ruthless killer but I'm not. I'd always tell myself that the people I've killed deserved it…and most of them did but I just couldn't bare the pain of taking someone's life. All this anxiety would start to take over and just eat me up".  
Jack looked at Vera with sympathy but then started to shake the look off.  
"You didn't seem to distressed when you were murdering my colleague".  
"Well that's because my mother had our neuro-tech implant a very high-tech microchip in me. Every time I start to feel emotion or unfocused the chip would send signals to my brain telling me it's nothing".  
"If you say you never wanted to be an agent why didn't you just run away or turn yourself in"?  
"I can never escape my mother. She'll find me and have me killed without a doubt".  
Before Jack could respond Irina entered the room. She signaled Vera to leave, leaving the two of them alone. Irina smiled at Jack but he quickly turned away.  
"Now Jack is this anyway to treat your wife"?  
"What is it that you want with me or Sydney"?  
"No small talk I see…very well then".  
"What I want with Sydney is none of you're concern. All you need to know is that I'm about to offer you a chance to join me Jack. Think about it don't be as foolish as to turn it down, think about what happened when Sydney did that".  
"I hate to ruin your plans but I nor Sydney would every agree to your "foolishness" ".  
"Why do you do this to me Jack I'm trying to save you".  
" The only person that will need some saving is you because if you intend on harming Sydney in any way I won't hesitate to kill you".  
"Well then our discussion is over".  
Irina called out to Vera making her enter the room.  
"Vera get Mr. Vaughn ready and please have someone escort Jack back. I wouldn't want him to miss this" she said smiling. 

  
  
Vera gave Jack a look of grief and then left the room. Irina kissed Jack on the lips and whispered, "I'll see you soon my love." Jack was utterly disgusted and jerked his head sideways. Irina gave Jack a smile before exiting the room. As soon as she left, in came more guards, who began tying Jack up again.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Meanwhile, Simons was left in an empty room, contemplating whether or not he should escape. _Screw it. I'm not gonna wait for some Russian bastard to kill me. If I go, I'll go doing it the right way._

Simons slowly got up from the floor and hobbled toward the door. He slowly opened it and peeked outside. To his surprise, no one was there. Simons made his way through the warehouse and into a hidden control room. In there, he used concealed cameras to help him locate where Sydney and the others were being kept. 

Then he spotted them in the interrogation room. From what Simons could see, Sydney was almost free from her restraints, so he carefully got her attention by using the camera placed in front of her. Sydney spotted a tiny bright red light and noticed that someone was doing Morse code. She decoded half of what Simons was signaling. "FOUR-GUARDS-OUTSIDE. TWO-IN-THERE. LIGHTS-WILL-GO-OFF. GET-READY". As soon as Sydney freed herself, she alerted Simons. Soon enough the lights switched off and Sydney headed straight out the door. 

She met up with the guards and quickly took care of them. She then headed toward the other end of the interrogation room, and finished the guards off there with multiple spinning kicks to the face. Sydney started to free Vaughn and Will, when she suddenly heard a noise.  
"Sydney!" Jack said holding up a gun.  
"Dad, how did you…"  
"It doesn't matter how; just untie those two. I've got an extraction team that will be here in thirty-minutes."  
"Dad, Simons is somewhere around the building."  
"I'll go find him. You three meet me outside and wait from a far distance. Once I have Simons, I'll set the place to detonate. Wait exactly five minutes before the place blows. If we're not out by then, leave. You understand?"  
Sydney paused and then nodded in agreement.  
"Good, now go."

  
"Wait, Dad, do you know where to look?"  
"Yes, now go!"  
"Alright, be careful."  
Jack gave Sydney a nod and ran in the opposite direction. He knew exactly where to look because all of the warehouse's main power was in the control room, so it was obvious to Jack that Simons had to be there. Jack was now in front of the hidden door leading to the control room. As he entered, a gun was pointed at the side of his head.  
"Come one step closer, and I guarantee you that's the last step you'll take."  
"It's Jack," he said approaching Simons cautiously.  
Simons lowered his gun and allowed Jack to enter.  
"You alright?"  
Simons limped over to Jack, "Yeah I'm fine, nothing too serious."  
"Hmm, well, then I better start the detonation sequence," Jack said walking, over to a computer.  
"I've already programmed it. Only problem is, there was a minor glitch in the computer. Instead of programming it manually, the computer was on an automated mode, so I couldn't over-ride the detonation sequence."  
"How much time did it give us?"  
"Twenty minutes. We're up to seventeen now."  
"Well, that gives us both enough time to get out of here then."  
"I sure hope you're not saying that I'm incapable of keeping up with you?"  
Jack ignored Simons and opened the door. As the two of them were heading out, Jack set his watch for sixteen minutes.  
"Ready to go?"  
"Yeah."  
The two of them were halfway out the building when Jack pushed Simons against the wall. A group of guards ran past them.  
"Clear?"  
Jack paused for a moment then motioned Simons forward. Jack and Simons were almost out of the building, when Sark held a gun out in front of them. Jack and Simons immediately pointed theirs back at Sark.  
"Listen," Jack said, "We've just engaged the detonation sequence in this building and it's about to blow. So, I suggest you tell whom you must and let us go. You have exactly twelve minutes to choose. What will it be?"  
Sark put his gun down and began to speak, "I have no desire to kill you, Agent Bristow…In fact, I'm letting you both escape, since I'm nearly done with this operation."  
Simons eyed Sark with suspicion. "What operation?" he asked quickly.  
Sark also answered him directly, "I'm British SIS. I've been working "The Man" case for some time now, and now that I finally know the identity of "The Man" I'll be returning to England."  
As Sark was about to leave, Jack called out to him, "Sark wait…warn Vera."  
Sark gave Jack a nod and took off. As Sark left, Jack hurriedly helped Simons out the door and they ran out the building. They soon met up with Sydney and were headed toward the extraction point. Jack took one final look back and then looked at his watch. Five minutes.  
Sydney and the others were ahead of Jack, and when Sydney noticed this, she called out to her father, "Dad!"

Jack turned and closely followed Sydney from behind. When they reached their extraction point, a helicopter swooped down and threw them a ladder. As they were climbing it, they heard the sound of an enormously loud blast from behind. Sydney closed her eyes and continued up while Jack closely followed her. Vaughn helped Sydney up and briefly gazed in her eyes, "You all right?" he asked, giving her a smile.   
Sydney smiled back, "Yeah, I'm fine."  
Will jealously watched from behind, while Jack stared out the window. Then Will remembered his story.  
"Jack," Will whispered. "I forgot to mention that I wrote a story exposing SD-6."  
Jack gave Will a frustrated look and softly but firmly responded by saying, "You what?"  
"I thought that something might happen to me, and if that was the case I wouldn't just let SD-6 get away with what they've done to people."  
"It doesn't matter…I'll take care of it," Jack said, turning his head. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Sloane impatiently awaited Sydney and Jack Bristow's arrival. Soon enough, Jack walked through his office door.  
"Sorry I'm late."  
"Jack, where the hell have you and Sydney been?"  
"In Kazakhstan. Sydney got a lead somehow about her mother's whereabouts. She went looking for her there and…"  
"And you went after her," Sloane interrupted.  
"Yes. You do have to realize, Arvin, that this is an especially difficult time for Sydney, learning the truth about her mother and realizing that she may still be alive. That's too much for her to handle right now. And you know how Sydney can be."  
"Yes, yes I know. She was raised to be quite a spontaneous woman wasn't she?" Sloane said, giving Jack an accusatory look.  
Jack gave Sloane a glare. "Well, if that is all, then I better get back to work."  
"Yes, of course. But before you go, how exactly did Sydney get this lead?" Sloane asked, giving Jack a suspicious look.  
"I have no idea. My best guess is that someone might want Laura to come out of hiding for unknown reasons, and they're using Sydney to do it. I don't think this is such a major concern. If Laura is involved, it most likely has to do with sabotage or intelligence gathering. Nothing to worry about."  
"Maybe so, but I'd still like to look into this."  
"Very well, but you'll only waste valuable time."  
"I'll be the judge of that. Thank you for letting me know though."  
"No problem."  
As Jack was about to leave the office, Sloane called out to him, "Oh Jack, one more thing. If you see Sydney, would you please tell her to come to my office? I'd like a word with her."  
Jack nodded in acknowledgment and walked out. As he left, he spotted Sydney. Before they began to speak Jack took out his scrambler, and instructed Sydney that they had sixty seconds to talk.  
"Sloane is asking a lot of questions about where we were."  
Sydney looked worried, "What did you say?…Does he suspect anything?"  
"I told him that you got a lead from an unknown source about your mother, instructing you to go to Kazakhstan. And that you went to follow up on that lead, and that I came along with you. As for Sloane suspecting anything remains a mystery. He's looking into this, so you…" Jack was interrupted by a sudden beep. Which meant thier conversation was over.  
"Well then, I'll see him right away. Thank you," Sydney said, walking away and entering Sloane's office.  
As Sydney entered the office Sloane eyed her with a questioning look. "Sydney, you're limping. Are you all right?"  
Sydney gave him a smile, as if she thought he actually cared about her wellbeing, "Oh yeah, I'm fine…well, better than I was before anyway."  
"What happened?"  
"Well, I got an unknown lead about where my mother was…Actually I didn't even know if it was true or not, but I had to find out. So, I went to Kazakhstan and my father went along with me, completely objecting to all this. Finally, he talked some sense into me, while he and I went on a hike, and that's where this incident happened," Sydney said pointing to her ankle.  
"Well, that's Jack for you. You know, Sydney," Sloane began, laying his hand on hers, "if you ever need anything, or anyone to talk to about this matter, I'm here for you."  
Sydney gave Sloane a weak smile and thanked him. "By the way do you want me to look into this?"  
"Well to tell you the truth, Sydney, I was going to have someone look into it, but now that I've had this talk with you, it isn't worth the time."  
"You're sure?"  
"I'm sure. We have too much on our hands, especially with "The Man" on the loose. But I'm certain we'll find out who this bastard is and we'll bring him down. I promise."  
Sydney gave Sloane yet another weak smile while exiting his office.


	4. Default Chapter

****

Chapter 4

As Sydney left the office, she walked over to her desk and find Dixon there.

"Dixon, I want to…" But before she could have finished her sentence, Dixon handed her a note and walked away.

Sydney opened the note and read it. 

_Sydney, there are a lot of things that don't add up here. For example when you specifically called yourself Freelancer instead of Bluebird back in Argentina. That raises a lot of questions that I hope you'll have answers to. Meet me tonight at pier 16 over by the docks at 8._

Dixon

After reading the note Sydney quickly crumbled it and placed it inside her pocket. She later made her way to the meeting room where Dixon, Jack, and Marshall were waiting. As soon as Sydney got herself settled, Sloane walked in. He walked over to his chair and picked up a remote, which closed all the doors and dimmed the lights. 

"We have quite an urgent matter today. As you all know, we've been after "The Man" for some time now. And now we've finally got a lead on who "The Man" might be," Sloane said, as he began playing a video.

The video clearly showed Sark holding onto Vera.

_"Vera come with me. I promise you'll be safe."_

Vera pulled away, "_I can't leave my mother…"_

Sark briefly gazed into Vera's eyes, _"Yes you can…trust me."_

Vera seemed hypnotized, _"I won't leave without my grandfather."_

Sark paused for a moment, knowing Khasinau would never accept, _"Well then we'll take him with us."_

As the two were about to search for Khasinau, Irina walked in with several men.

__

"Vera, I'm disappointed…well, not really. I've expected this from you and from Alexander…but Sark. Well, it doesn't matter now, since you two will be dead."

"Correction, Irina, all of us will be dead in…exactly five minutes. So I suggest you "try" to handle your business another time."

Irina softly smiled, _"Is that right?"_

Sark checked his watch, _"Sorry, four minutes."_

_"You may be clever, Mr. Sark, but you forget who you are dealing with. You and I know that there are at least eight maybe seven minutes left…well, that is if the bomb is still on. You see, we quickly discovered the control room and made a few alterations."_

Sark looked baffled and then turned to Vera, giving her a quick nod. Soon enough the two of them quickly shot the lights resulting in complete darkness.

The lights soon came on and Sloane was standing next to a projection image of Vera and Khasinu.

"I've just received an urgent message from SD-5 confirming that Khasinau and his granddaughter have just been eliminated."

"Under whose orders?" Dixion asked.

Sloane briefly stared at Sydney before answering, "The Man's… otherwise known as Irina Derevko."

Sydney stared at her father, transfixed, while Dixon looked at her questioningly. 

Dixon soon focused his attention on Sloane, "What's our mission?"

"Surveillance. You both will go to Zurich, where you are to gather pictures of Derevko's activities. Jack and another team will gather video surveillance. Bring them back here for analysis, and wait for further instruction."

"That's it?" Sydney asked.

Sloane gave her a smile and simply responded, "That's it. Simple as that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sydney entered the warehouse and slowly walked over to where Vaughn was sitting.

Sydney gave him a smile, "Hey."

Vaughn returned the smile, "So, how was your first day back?"

"Good, except that Sloane was asking a lot of questions."

Vaughn gave her a worried look; "Well, does he suspect anything?"

"No…I mean, I think he did at first. But then he said after talking to me, he wasn't going to pursue anything."

"Oh…anything else?"

"Yeah…Dixon he…well, he definitely suspects something. He wants to meet me tonight, over by the docks at eight," Sydney paused for a moment. "Vaughn I'm just gonna tell him the truth. Dixon can't possibly know whom he's really working for. We can trust him with this," Sydney blurted out.

"Sydney," Vaughn said hastily. "We've had this discussion before. Right now we don't know where Dixon's allegiance lie. And if he doesn't know whom he's really working for, it's best to keep it that way. Think about it, Sydney, he has family; he has too much to risk."

Sydney gave Vaughn a weak nod, "You're right…I guess I wasn't thinking."

Vaughn looked at her for a brief moment before speaking, "So, I hear you're going to Zurich."

"Yeah, my father and I are on surveillance. We're tracking my….my mother's activities."

Vaughn lowered his head for a moment and then handed Sydney a tiny card, "Here take this".

"What is it?"

"It's a state of the art smart card. Just stick that in the camera you're using and it'll upload all the images to the CIA's servers. It's completely untraceable."

Sydney checked her watch; "I have to go. I'm meeting Marshall in fifteen minutes."

"Alright. Good luck tomorrow."

"Ok, bye."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
Marshall was busy pounding away at his computer when Sydney entered the room. She walked over to him, and lightly tapped him on the shoulder, "Marshall."

Marshall slightly jumped from his chair, "Oh, Sydney, I was just….um, playing Space Invaders. And I must say the graphics on this thing are quite remarkable. In fact, I have the top score," he said proudly. "Do you…do you wanna try…because it's going to take you quite awhile to top this."

Sydney smiled, "Uh, maybe another time."

"Oh…ok."

"Marshall, aren't you supposed to…"

"Oh, yes, of course," he said, walking over to a table and picking up a camera.

"You see this looks like an ordinary digital camera, right…WRONG," he said enthusiastically. Marshall handed Sydney the camera. "This baby's zoom is so advanced that you can take a picture a mile away if you wanted to. Well, maybe not a mile, but pretty close. Oh, and this button here is to activate the heat sensors. So you'll can keep a close track on everyone."

"Ok, thanks," Sydney said, giving him yet another smile.

Marshall watched Sydney walk away, "If you ever wanna give Space Invaders a shot, just…just let me know," he yelled after her.


	5. Default Chapter

****

Chapter 18  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Will sat in his car wondering how Jack was going to stop the story from being published. _Oh man, what a big mess I'm in. Not to mention what a bigger mess I'll cause._ Will sighed and leaned back, nervously awaiting Jack's arrival. Soon enough, Will spotted Jack's car pulling up in the alley. Will stepped out of his car and noticed Jack carrying some files.

Jack handed them over to Will. "Here."

"What's this for?"

"I've called some of my contacts and they've kindly taken care of your story. They called your employer and informed her where you were."

Will looked at Jack, puzzled. "You mean they told her the truth?"

"Of course not. They merely informed her that you were in a psychiatric ward, and that you were being treated for your anxiety disorder. Thus causing you to seek people's attention and writing your story."

"Anxiety disorder…What, they think I'm crazy now?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it that way, Mr. Tippin."

Jack noticed Will's face reddening.

"How else was I suppose to explain your bizarre story? What… would you rather have me kill them?" Jack said sarcastically. "You have to understand, your story could have cost you your life. Not to mention Sydney's life. So what I did was for the best. If it's any consolation, you still get to keep your job…Well, that is, after your suspension has been lifted."

"Suspended…How long?"

"They've given you one month to get your affairs in order."

Will started to calm down, but quickly became agitated again, "What… I suffer from minor hallucinations?…I'm on tranquilizers too?!"

Jack ignored Will and entered his car, driving away. 

_Oh great, everyone knows I'm crazy now. "Hey, look it's crazy Will. Don't go in there, Will might hallucinate on you."_

Will sat in his car for a moment, trying to settle himself down. _Oh well… at least I get some time off._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
It was almost nine twenty and Dixon still hadn't shown. Sydney started her engine and was just about to leave when Dixon's car pulled up from behind her. Sydney stepped out of her car as Dixon walked over to her.

"Sydney."

"Hey, what's up?"

"You know very well why we're here. Now, Sydney, we've known each other for a long time, and I want you to be honest with me. Are you a double agent?"

"No."

"Sydney, don't lie to me!"

From the look on Sydney's face, it seemed that she was about to tell Dixon the truth, but couldn't bring herself to. 

"Dixon, I'm telling you the truth. When you caught me that day, I was checking up on the page that we'd retrieved from Khasinau."

Dixon still wasn't sure whether or not Sydney was telling him the truth. In fact, he was certain she was keeping something from him.

"Why?"

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"Try me."

"Well, when I was having dinner over at Sloane's, he showed me a collection of Rambaldi artifacts. It interested me how he took everything involving Rambaldi so seriously. So, when I found out where the rest of the artifacts were being kept, curiosity got the better of me…Dixon," Sydney pleaded, "You can't tell him that I was there…if you report me I'll…"

"I didn't report you to security section, if that's what you want to know. But your excuse still hasn't given me any reason not to. You still haven't explained whom you were speaking to when you called for help. I may have appeared to be unconscious, but I was fully aware that you were not contacting SD-6. So the question is, who were you speaking to Sydney?"

Sydney thought for a moment, but knew she had to respond quickly, before her silence raised any suspicion.

"I was contacting Langley. I knew SD-6 wouldn't come through in time, so I called them instead. Unfortunately, I didn't get a fast enough response. So I carried you to the jeep and drove you to the nearest hospital. As for the whole Freelancer situation….well, I really don't know where that came from, and that's the truth."

Dixon's silence worried Sydney. She didn't know weather or not he believed her excuse, but she was soon going to find out.

"Is this really the truth, because if it isn't, you're really going to make it hard on yourself."

"I swear to you. And the only reason I asked you not to mention this to Sloane is because someone had already broken into the vault before me."

"Was anything taken?"

"Yes…it seemed that Khasinau had sent men in there to retrieve the page."

"What…Sydney, you should report this to Sloane!"

"I can't, or he'll know that I was there. Anyway, I'm sure he already knows. I've checked and he's issued an investigation, which is why he's sending us to Zurich. Dixon, please… I don't want him to suspect me. Especially since Sloane finds my loyalty a little questionable these days."

"Well, he's not the only one."

Sydney seemed relieved. "So, you believe me then?"

"Yes, but Sydney…" Dixon paused. "Promise me you'll be careful….I mean, whatever you're doing, whether it's good or….well, you know, just be careful."

Sydney smiled, knowing that Dixon still had faith in her. She hated herself for lying to him, but she remembered what Vaughn had said, and she knew what she was doing was for the better. As the two of them were about to leave, they hugged one another.

Dixon patted Sydney on the shoulder, "Drive safe, all right?"

"Thanks, you too."

As Sydney drove away, Dixon headed back inside his car. He removed a handheld from his glove compartment and turned it on. Soon enough, Sydney's position was shown on the radar. 

**Chapter 19**   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Jack slowly made his way to Devlin's office. As he entered, Devlin threw a huge fit.

"Jack, where the hell have you been?!"

"Doing my job, unlike certain people."

Devlin looked puzzled, "What are you talking about? You know what, Jack, it really doesn't matter. I'm sick of you playing cowboy; I'm ordering you to see Barnett for a full psych evaluation. And I'm sure you would agree with me, when I say that you've gone mad!"

Jack paused for a moment before answering him, "Were you aware that Haladki was a mole for The Man? Or were you so tired of me playing "cowboy," that you overlooked that matter?"

Devlin's eyes moved back and forth before setting themselves back on Jack again, "How do you know this?"

"I have my ways."

Devlin looked Jack straight in the eye, "I'm sure you do."

"All the information you need to know is in there. It's a taped confession of Haladki revealing to me that he was the mole."

Devlin gave Jack a shocked look, "He was, Jack?"

"Yes, well, he tried to kill me. I had no choice but to retire him."

"I know you, Jack, and I'm pretty sure you had plenty of choices. You probably just went with the first one you saw fit."

Jack clenched his jaw and from the look on his face Devlin knew that Jack was going to lose his control. But Jack remained calm, as if Devlin's accusations did not bother him.

"Why does it matter to you anyway? If I had brought him in, he'd clearly wind up with the same fate."

"Even so, he still deserved a trial. You had absolutely no right to execute him Jack!"

Jack eyed Devlin with great intensity, "I got you your evidence…I found your mole, and yet you're acting as if I'm the one who deserves a trial here."  
Devlin looked at the evidence and then at Jack, "You're right, Jack…you're absolutely right."

Jack knew something was wrong with Devlin, but couldn't quite tell what. The way Devlin spoke to Jack reeked with suspicion; however, Jack ignored it, for he remembered exactly what Sydney had said to him.

*FLASHBACK*

(Sydney and Jack meet by pier, Sydney cries.)

SYDNEY: "The CIA has the ampule Khasinau wants. SD-6 has the page. You and I could get them both and just turn them over." 

JACK: "We can't afford to blindly hand the enemy something he wants so desperately."

Sydney: "I don't know much about you. Do you have any close friends? I mean, people that you love?"

*END FLASHBACK*

"Well then, I'll see you when I get back from Zurich."

Devlin gave Jack a nod and escorted him out to the door. Devlin then headed towards his desk and picked up the phone.

"Yeah it's Devlin…We've got a little problem here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Sydney sat quietly reading yet another one of her mother's books, when Francie entered the room.

"Oh man, Syd, you would not believe how hard opening a restaurant can be. I mean I never knew how incompetent some people could get. Like today, for instance, this complete…moron totally threw two dozen boxes of MY wineglasses. I mean is it so hard to read _handle with care_?"

"I know how that can be sometimes."

Francie leaned her head against Sydney's shoulder, "Yeah I bet people at the bank can be real asses, huh?"

"Yeah…" the sudden ringing of the phone soon cut Sydney off. "Hello?"

"Joey's Pizza?"

"Sorry, you have the wrong number."

She hung up the phone and turned toward Francie. "Um, I think I'll go to the store. I'm having a sudden craving for some triple fudge ice cream," Sydney said enthusiastically. "You want anything?"

"I'll have the same…ooh and some marshmallows too."

Sydney smiled, "Ok, I'll be back in a little while."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sydney entered the warehouse to find Vaughn and her father waiting for her.

"Hey what's up?" From the look on Vaughn's face Sydney knew something was wrong. "Is there something wrong"?

"Sydney, your father tells me that there might be a mole within the CIA."

"A mole…Who?"

"Well, we recently found out that the first mole was Steven Haladki, but now your father thinks there might be someone else. As to who…we really don't know."

"Sydney," Jack interrupted. "I'd prefer that you and I should hold off telling the CIA any valuable information regarding SD-6 or any of its affiliates. Not until we know for sure who the mole really is."

"All right."

"Sydney, when I mean CIA, that includes Vaughn."

"Your father' s right Sydney. Right now, it's not safe for you to tell me anything. We don't know who could be listening."

"Well, if you don't know who could be listening, then why are we all having this conversation?"

"Don't worry, Sydney, your father and I checked the warehouse. It's clean."

Sydney stared at Vaughn, completely ignoring her father. "Ok…I understand."

Jack noticed the tension in the room and quickly broke it up; "Well, then we all better get going."

"Yeah, I should go. I've got an early flight tomorrow."

Vaughn nodded and left the warehouse with Sydney and Jack. Little did they know, Dixon's car was parked nearby, and a recording of their conversation was being made.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
  
** Chapter 20**  


"Hey, Fran, I got you your marshmallows, but they were all out of triple fudge, so I got the next best thing."

"What'd you get?"

"Cookie dough."

Francie smiled as Sydney handed her the ice cream, "Even better."

After an hour of conversation and enlightening little anecdotes, Francie thought it best that she and Sydney went to bed.

"Syd, I think we should be going to bed now. I mean it's like two o'clock, don't you have a early flight tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I guess we should be heading to bed."

"Ok, didn't I just sound like my mother there or something?"

"Yeah, just a little," Sydney said, smiling.

As the two of them were heading toward their rooms Sydney called out to Francie, "Good night Mrs. Calfo."

"I'm warning you, Sydney Bristow, lights out or else!"

"Ha ha, all right. Night, Fran."

"Night, Syd." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Jack sat at home with a drink in his hand, mind set on Vera. After countless hours, Jack could no longer bear the pain of thinking about her. He made his way to his den and turned on his computer. Jack logged onto SD-6's servers and into their video archive, searching for anything regarding Vera. His search soon ended when he came across a file dated moments after Vera and Khasinau's supposed death. Jack played the file to find Irina armed, and Vera on the ground bleeding.

*Video*  
"Vera, you're just as weak and just as pathetic as Khasinau. Of all the things you could have inherited, you inherited stupidity. How could you be so naïve as to think that Sark would actually save you…from me? Look at what you've done. Your grandfather is dead, and where is Sark…nowhere. He left you in a cowardly attempt to save his life."

Irina bent over, looking Vera straight in the eye, "You see, Vera, in the end I always win."  
Vera glared back at her mother, and then spat in her face, taking the gun away from her. "No, I win. All I have to do is pull this trigger and…"

"And you'll what…kill me?" Irina interrupted. 

Vera paused for a moment, staring back at her mother. Then her program started to take control. _Not now…please, not now._ Irina knew this, and motioned forward toward her daughter.

"All right then, Vera… prove me wrong. Kill me."

Vera tried to hold back tears, but found it unsuccessful. Her eyes started to blur and tears rolled down her face. "Step back, or…or I'll kill you."

Irina was now face to face with Vera. "Shhh", Irina murmured, stroking Vera's hair. Vera allowed Irina to take the gun from her. Irina whispered softly into her ear, "I always knew you were weak, but now, I'm going to set you free."

Vera looked at her mother confused, "What…?"

Then, a gun suddenly went off, and Vera lay motionless on the ground. As Irina walked away, she turned to face her daughter one last time. "Such a waste," Irina whispered, spitting on the ground.

*END OF VIDEO*  


Jack sat there, horrified of what he had just seen. He had witnessed the daughter that he had never known, die, right in front of his eyes. Jack couldn't take the pain, so he filled his empty glass up to the very top with Scotch again. He drank until his eyes felt heavy and the bottle was half-empty. Soon enough, Jack had drunk himself to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Sydney and Vaughn were speaking to one another over the phone.

"Vaughn, when I think about all the lies I've told… the people that have been hurt because of what I do, it kills me. Will… he can't ever live a normal life now, all because he wanted to find Danny's killer. He said he couldn't stand to see me hurt, that's why he pursued his investigation. If I hadn't told Danny the truth, none of this would have happened. Will would be safe and Danny would still be here with me," Sydney said, sobbing.

"Listen, Sydney, the great thing about you, is that you can't stand to lie or to see the people that you care about hurt. And as much as it hurts right now, what you're doing is going to stop SD-6 for good. That's what you should focus on right now. Sydney what I…what I love about you is…"

"Love…You never used that word before," Sydney said sheepishly.

"Sydney, the truth is I…"

"Syd, Syd…Wake up", Francie said, shaking her. "You're gonna be late."

Sydney's vision was blurry, "What…what time is it?"

Francie smiled at her, "Half past seven. Listen Syd, I gotta go or I'll be late for class. Oh and just in case you're hungry, I made some breakfast for you. It's on the table."

"Thanks, Mrs. Calfo," Sydney teased.

"Excuse me, Miss. Thang, but do you want to get on your flight in one piece?"

"All right, all right, I'll stop. See you tonight."

Francie gave Sydney a kiss on the cheek; "Have a safe flight."

"Thanks bye."


	6. Default Chapter

****

Chapter 21

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Sydney and Dixon in Zurich)

****

Sydney and Dixon quietly watched Irina from afar, snapping pictures of her speaking to a longhaired man outside a restaurant. 

"What do you think they're talking about?"

Dixon did not look at Sydney when he responded, "I don't know. But I think she's talking to Jacques Renoir."

Sydney looked shocked. "Jacques Renoir? Didn't he create the G-Virus?"

"Yes, but why would he be talking to Irina Derevko? She mostly handles sabotage missions."

"Well, you forget she's also The Man," Sydney said absently.

"Yes, I guess you're right." Dixon turned to face Sydney, "Are you ready to go in?"

"Yeah," Sydney said, grabbing a bag from the back of the van.

Sydney entered the restaurant and sat at an unoccupied table. She removed a small digital camera from her bag and pressed a tiny button on the side, which activated the heat sensor mode. Sydney used the heat sensors to locate her mother and soon enough, she found her. From what Sydney could see, Irina and Jacques were making some sort of trade. Sydney snapped a picture of this and then continued her observation. Irina seemed to be handing Jacques a large envelope, while he handed her a large suitcase.

"Excuse me, ma'am, are you ready to order now?"

Sydney politely declined, "No thanks, I'm not ready yet. I'm having a little trouble making out what the menu says. Since I've lost my glasses, it's almost impossible for me to see."

The waiter gave Sydney a smile; "You're American?"

"Why yes, I am. I guess you can tell, huh?"

"Yes, we get many tourists this time of year. If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to translate the menu for you."

"Thanks, that'll be nice."

Sydney snapped a few more shots under the table, hoping she'd get something relevant.

"And finally, we have the sirloin steak…"

"You know what?" Sydney interrupted. "I think I'll just have some ice tea and a salad, if that's not too much trouble for you."

The waiter gave Sydney a look of annoyance, but later shook it off, "No, not at all."

As soon as the waiter left, Sydney attempted to take a few more shots of her mother but quickly found out that she was gone. Sydney made her way out of the restaurant, and back into the van.

"You through so soon?"

"Yeah, I couldn't take anymore without causing any suspicion. Anyway, I would have had to pay for my order," Sydney said, smirking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Back in L.A) 

"As we all know by now, Irina Derevko is somehow affiliated with Jacques Renoir."

Sydney clung onto every word that Sloane said regarding her mother, "What do you think the relation is between those two? I mean, Renoir creates biological weapons."

"Yes, he's mostly known for creating the world's most lethal viruses and selling them to whoever can afford it. Renoir's made some pretty well known viruses in fact, such as Anthrax and his most recent one, the G-Virus. I'm sure you've all heard about that. Unfortunately, he hasn't quite perfected it yet, and there are plenty of people over in the Middle East who would love to get their hands on it."

"So that's what he and Derevko were trading," Dixon interrupted. "I mean, I've read her file and it's quite impressive. She's known for some pretty notorious things."

At the mention of Irina's career, Jack's face twitched a bit.

"Yes, well she's also known to be quite good at counter-intelligence. You see, the pictures and audio that you have taken indicate that she traded some very valuable information with Renoir regarding the completion of his G-Virus. In return, he gave her the last known Rambaldi artifact. No one knew it even existed until now."

"Do you know what it was?" Sydney asked, looking concerned.

"Yes, it appears to be another book written by Rambaldi."

"So you want us to retrieve the book?" Dixon interrupted.

"No, not yet. I still want to monitor her activities before we pursue anything else. Well, I think we've covered enough today. I'll see you all tomorrow." 

As Jack and Sloane exited the room, Dixon pulled Sydney to the side. "Come by my house tonight. We need to talk."

Sydney was petrified, but clearly didn't show it. "What for?"

"You just haven't come by in awhile. I thought you could have dinner with us tonight," Dixon lied.

"Um, sure, I'd love to." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Chapter22**

Francie quietly reviewed her History notes when a knock at the door startled her. "I'm coming!"

Francie opened the door to find Will there, "Will! I thought you were in rehab?"

Will gave Francie a look of disappointment, "No, I wasn't in rehab."

"Oh, but Syd told me that…"

"I was at a psychiatric ward, ok?" Will interrupted.

"Oh…umm…well, I'm glad you're back. I've missed you. And what happened to your face?" Francie asked, looking concerned.

"It's nothing. I was robbed on my way over there."

"Did they catch the guy?"

"No, but all he took was my wallet…which had like ten bucks."

Francie gave Will a smile, "Ok, so are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna come in?"

Will walked through the door, "Uh, where's Syd? I wanna talk to her about something."

"Oh geez, Will, I hope it's not about Danny's murder again…"

Will looked at Francie surprised, "No…no, what would make you think that?"

"Come on, Will. Every time you say you want to talk to Sydney, it's always about the same thing…Danny. Either that, or you end up kissing her!"

Francie slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. "I'm so sorry, Will, that came out of nowhere."

"It's ok, really. It's just that I needed to talk to Sydney about this whole anxiety disorder of mine," Will said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, well, she's at Dixon's house. Why don't you talk to me about it?"

Will sighed, "Well, I just didn't want to complicate things for you. I mean, this restaurant thing must be so stressful. I just didn't want to bother you."

"Will, you can always talk to me about anything. I mean, you're my bud," Francie said, giving Will a hug. "Now…tell me about this whole anxiety disorder situation. I mean, you seem pretty well put together…well, most of the time, that is."

"You know what…I don't think it's a really good idea for me to be talking about it right now. I thought I was ready to talk about it, but I guess not."

Will headed towards the door, "Thanks Fran."

"No problem. And, Will, remember what I said…you can talk to me about anything."

Will looked at Francie for a brief moment. Wishing he could tell her about Sydney. About all the lies…but instead, he kissed her on the cheek and hugged her tightly.

"What was that for?" Francie asked, looking confused.

"Just for…just for being you."

Francie looked at Will, astonished, "Ok."

Will got in his car and drove away, while Francie watched.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So Sydney, how are you these days? It's been awhile since you've stopped by," Mrs. Dixon said, slicing up the meat loaf. 

Sydney smiled, "I'm doing good, thanks. So, where're the kids? I've noticed that it's been a little quiet lately."

Mrs. Dixon let out a short laugh, "They're sleeping over their grandma's. Marcus thought it'd be good to have a little peace and quiet. And for once, I agree with him," she said, patting Dixon's shoulder.

Mrs. Dixon noticed that her husband wasn't eating, "Marcus, honey, are you all right? You've haven't touched your meal yet."

"I'm actually not feeling too well. If Sydney's done, I'd like to discuss a little business with her," he said giving his wife a smile.

"Sure, if Sydney's finished."

"Yeah, thank you for having me. The dinner was fabulous."

"Thank you, Sydney. Well then, if you'll excuse me, I have some dishes to tend to."

Dixon kissed his wife good night, "Thanks, honey."

"You're welcome, but it would have been better if you ate something."

Dixon gave his wife a sweet smile, "I know, I know. Good night."

She turned to her husband and then to Sydney, "Don't stay up too late, you two."

As Dixon's wife left, he led Sydney to his den.

"So, what did you to talk to me about?"

Dixon ignored Sydney and removed something form his desk, "Here, listen to this."

Sydney looked confused, "Ok, what is it?"

"Just listen to it."

*AUDIO CLIP*

__

"A mole…who?"

"Well, we recently found out that the first mole was Steven Haladki, but now your father thinks there might be someone else. As to who…we really don't know."

"Sydney, I'd prefer that you and I should hold off telling the CIA any valuable information regarding SD-6 or any of its affiliates. Not until we know for sure who the mole really is."

"All right."

"Sydney, when I mean CIA, that includes Vaughn."

"Your father' s right, Sydney. Right now, it's not safe for you to tell me anything. We don't know who could be listening."

*END AUDIO CLIP*

Sydney looked absolutely horrified, "Where did you get this?"

"It doesn't matter where I got it," Dixon said, looking Sydney straight in the eye. "Sydney, you swore to me that nothing was going on, but this clearly shows you're lying. So now I want the truth."

"Dixon, I can't."

"If you're worried that SD-6 is listening, they're not. I scrambled their connection; we're good for about an hour. Now, tell me what I want to hear, Sydney. No more lies."

"Dixon, if I told you, it would be putting your life and your family's life on the line. And I know you're not willing to risk their lives, so just forget about this."

"Sydney, I need to know who I'm working for here." Dixon paused for a moment, "Remember what I told you the first day we met? Without trust, we have nothing."

"Yeah."

"Well Sydney, I trust you with my life. Do you trust me with yours?"

"Of course, Dixon. You know I do."

"Well then Sydney, trust me with this."

Sydney paused for a moment then decided to tell Dixon everything. "All right, I'll tell you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Chapter 23**

"Dixon, what I'm about to tell you may seem unbelievable, but it's true."

Dixon crossed his arms, "Ok, I understand."

"SD-6 is not a black ops division of the CIA. Instead, they're enemies of the United States. SD-6 is part of a branch of the Alliance. We've worked for the enemy the whole time."

Dixon remained silent, "Dixon, I'm sorry you had to find out like this."

"Sydney," Dixon paused, trying to think of what to say. "I want in."

"What…Dixon, no!"

"Sydney, I know how you must feel about SD-6. You feel betrayed because of what they've done to Danny. But think about how I feel right now. Knowing that I've been lied to all these years and that I've been helping the enemy."

"I know, Dixon…Believe me, I know."

"You know, every night, I go to bed knowing that I've served my country well. No matter how bad things may have gotten, I was proud to be an agent of SD-6…Proud, can you believe that? Now…I don't know what to feel. Should I feel regret or…or shame," Dixon covered his face with his hand.

"Dixon, I want you to meet someone."

"So you mean, I'm in?"

"Well, not yet. I have to talk things over with someone first. And I don't think he'll be too pleased. Not to mention when my father finds out…" Sydney said, smiling.

Sydney and Dixon were in a car, on their way to the warehouse.

"Sydney, who'd you call back at the house?"

"My handler. Michael Vaughn."

"Oh, so he's who I'm going to meet with?"

"Yes. But you picked a wrong time to become a double. There's a mole within the CIA, and right now we really don't know who to trust."

"So I've heard. But Sydney, how can you be so sure that you can trust this Vaughn?"

"Believe me, I can trust him. He's helped me out countless times when I screwed up."

Dixon remained silent, as if he were having second thoughts, "Dixon, it isn't too late to change your mind."

Dixon gave Sydney an intense look. "No, I want to do this."

"Ok then." Sydney paused for a moment, parking her car in front of the warehouse. "All right, we're here."

Dixon and Sydney walked over to where Vaughn was standing. Vaughn watched Sydney come closer and was shocked to see Dixon emerge from the shadows.

"Sydney, what are you doing?! You know you're not supposed to be contacting me yet…and what is Dixon doing here?"

"Vaughn, calm down. Vaughn, Dixon. Dixon, Vaughn," Sydney said, introducing them to one another.

Vaughn shook Dixon's hand, "We've met on a previous occasion."

Sydney looked confused, "Where?"

"Back in Denpasar. You didn't know it, but I was the one who…" Vaughn said gesturing to the back of his neck.

Dixon gave Vaughn a weak smile; "Yes, I remember it quite well."

"Would you excuse me for a bit? I need to have a word with Sydney."

"Certainly."

Vaughn pulled Sydney aside and whispered to her, "Sydney, what did you think you were doing bringing him here?"

"Vaughn, Dixon already knows everything."

"I bet he does! Sydney, how do you know you can even trust him. What if he reports this to Sloane? My God, Sydney what were you thinking?"

"Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking. Look, Vaughn, Dixon…I consider him family. He's always looked out for me just like a father would. So I'm sorry if I told him the truth, but he followed us, and he heard everything. So how was I to explain that?"

Vaughn's forehead creased. He knew he couldn't beat Sydney in an argument, so he gave in. "All right."

Sydney and Vaughn walked back toward Dixon.

"All right, Dixon, you're in," Sydney said.

"Ok."

"Well, not yet, you're not," Vaughn interrupted. "I have to check that with Devlin."

"When?"

"I don't know. I'll run it by your father first. By the way, does he know about this?"

Sydney sighed, "No, he doesn't."

"Well, he won't be pleased."

"Yeah, I know. So, are you done here?"

"Yeah, we're done. Nice meeting you again," Vaughn said offering Dixon his hand. Dixon kindly accepted it. "You too."


	7. Default Chapter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Devlin waited silently in the alley where his car was parked, until he was startled from behind.

"Mr. Devlin, kindly step out of you're vehicle," said a man with a Scottish accent.

Devlin did as he was told and stepped out of his car, "Is she ready to see me yet?"

The man did not answer him. Instead, he led Devlin to the side of a building and into a door.

"Wait here for a moment."

A few moments later the man had returned with several men and Irina.

"Benjamin, so nice of you to come. I appreciate you meeting with me personally rather than over the phone. Now my friend, what is this little problem that you want to discuss with me?" Irina said, offering Devlin a glass of wine.

Devlin kindly refused it, "It's Jack, Irina. I think he knows." 

"Knows what…that you're the mole?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure he does."

"Pretty sure isn't certain, Ben. Now, what makes you believe that he knows you're the mole?"

Devlin paused for a moment, trying to think of a relevant excuse, "Well, there hasn't been any new information regarding SD-6 or any of its affiliates."

"That's it?" Irina asked, uninterested. "Well maybe there hasn't been anything to report. You know Jack, he lives his life for the job now."

"Maybe so, but now that he's reconnected with Sydney, his interests have changed. And Jack isn't stupid Irina. He'll find out what you're doing eventually, and when he does… well, I assure you that it will get ugly."

Irina thought for a moment before responding, "Yes of course, you're right. Well, since Jack is a little suspicious, let's give him something that will lead his interest towards another direction."

"Like what?"

"Leave that part up to me. Well, now that we're done, I thank you for stopping by, and I'll have one of my men escort you to your car."

As Irina was about to turn away, Devlin called out to her, "Irina, wait."

"Yes, Ben?"

"You haven't filled me in on all the details here. If we're going to work together, I think I should be entitled to know what's fully going on."

Irina gave Devlin a smile, "Of course you are. But at the moment you haven't proven yourself to be quite loyal to me yet."

"Loyal!" Devlin yelled. "If I wasn't loyal, would I be telling you this?"

"Yes Ben, but loyalty is a complicated thing. One minute you say you're loyal to me, and the next…well, the next will lead to betrayal."

"I understand. Well then, how can I prove myself to you?"

"That my friend… only time can tell." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sydney knocked on her father's door, waiting for an answer. When none came, she took a small key from her pocket and unlocked the door. Sydney entered the house and headed towards the stairs, when she heard a loud noise coming from her father's den. Sydney cautiously entered the room and find her father in front of his computer.

"Dad?"

"Sydney, what are you…what are you doing here?" Jack said, slowly standing up.

Sydney could tell that he was drunk, "I just came here to talk to you about something."

Jack put his hand on top of his head. "Talk to me about what?"

"It's about Dixon…" Sydney stopped when she noticed Vera on the computer screen. "What's that?"

Jack turned to face his computer and quickly turned it off, "That's nothing," he said hastily.

"Dad, is that…is that Vera?"

"Sydney, I said it was nothing!" Jack quickly changed his tone when he saw the expression that Sydney was giving him. "I mean, what is it that you want to talk to me about?"

"It can wait," Sydney said, heading towards the computer. She quickly turned it on and recovered the data from Jack's computer. Jack allowed her to continue, for he knew it was no use arguing with her. Especially since his head ached. Soon enough Sydney played the Video file.

*VIDEO* 

"Vera, you're just as weak and just as pathetic as Khasinau. Of all the things you could have inherited, you inherited stupidity. How could you be so naïve as to think that Sark would actually save you…from me? Look at what you've done. Your grandfather is dead, and where is Sark…nowhere. He left you in a cowardly attempt to save his life. Irina bent over looking Vera straight in the eye, "You see Vera, in the end I always win."  
Vera glared back at her mother and then spat in her face, taking the gun away from her, "No, I win. All I have to do is pull this trigger and…"

"And you'll what?…Kill me?" Irina interrupted. 

Vera paused for a moment, staring back at her mother. Then her program started to take control. _Not now…please not now._ Irina knew this and motioned forward toward her daughter.

"All right then, Vera… prove me wrong. Kill me."

Vera tried to hold back tears but found it unsuccessful, for her eyes started to blur and tears rolled down her face, "Step back or…or I'll kill you."

Irina was now face to face with Vera, "Shhh," Irina said stroking Vera's hair. Vera allowed Irina to take the gun from her. Irina whispered softly into her ear, "I always knew you were weak, but now I'm going to set you free."

Vera looked at her mother confused, "What…?" Then a sudden sound of a gun went off and Vera lay motionless on the ground. As Irina walked away, she turned to face her daughter one last time. "Such a waste," Irina whispered, spitting on the ground.

*END OF VIDEO*

Sydney stared at the computer screen in awe, "What…how can she do that? To her own daughter."

Jack remained silent and poured himself another drink. "Dad, don't. That doesn't solve anything."

Jack continued to ignore Sydney and started to consume his drink, "Dad, no!" Sydney said, knocking the glass from Jack's hand.

"Sydney, please, just leave. I don't want you to see me like this."

"Dad, I know how you must feel, but you shouldn't do this to yourself. Besides, Vera wasn't an innocent herself, you know."

"Yes, she was," Jack said hoarsely. "She is as much an innocent as you are."

"What…Dad, she murdered an innocent man right in front of us. I can't even begin to imagine what other notorious crimes she's committed."

"It was out of her control. Irina implanted some sort of microchip into her, which enhances aggression, allowing her to do all those things. But the program was short-circuiting. She started to remember, and from what we can tell in that video, Irina wasn't too pleased."

Sydney looked at her father with sympathy. She had never seen him act emotional before, only when the topic of her mother was started. Sydney's perspective of her father was now starting to change. Jack left Sydney to use the bathroom. As she watched her father leave, the thought of Dixon entered her mind. 

"Dad, wait."

Jack turned to face Sydney, "Yes?"

"I think you should sit down first."

Jack didn't like the sound of Sydney's tone. "No thanks, I prefer to stand."

"Ok, dad…" Sydney hesitated. 

"Sydney, what is it?"

"Dixon knows."

"He what!" Jack yelled.

"He must have followed us that night. He was already suspicious of me, ever since he caught me retrieving the Rambaldi page. Then he confronted me about it. Dad, I panicked; I didn't know what to do."

"There are better ways to have handled that situation, Sydney. I can't believe you were careless enough to have told Dixon the truth," Jack said rubbing his head. What if Sloane were to get a hold of this information. Do you realize what kind of risk you've put yourself in? Not to mention…"

"Yes dad I know…I got the speech from Vaughn. I don't need it from you right now," Sydney interrupted.

"Fine, are we through…or are there anymore little surprises on the way."

Sydney was shocked as to how fast Jack's mood had changed, "No."

"Well then, if you'll excuse me, I'll be getting to bed. I trust that you know your way out?"

Sydney felt hurt that Jack was treating her with such contempt. She thought the barrier between them had somehow been broken, but soon realized that it was still very much standing. For there was only a mere crack, and that was all she would ever get from her father.

Jack, on the other hand, was utterly ashamed and disgusted with himself. There was so much he wanted to say and do to make himself a better father to Sydney, but sadly, his own arrogance got in his way. Jack just wanted to hold Sydney and tell her he how sorry he was for acting the way he did, but instead he merely turned away and headed up the stairs, leaving Sydney alone. Sydney soon left the house and went back home, where she collapsed on her couch and began to sob. Francie heard this and headed to the living room to see what was the matter.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

Sydney buried her head on the couch pillow. "It's nothing really. I just need some time alone."

Francie sat beside Sydney, "Come on, Syd. I know you better than that. Tell me what happened."

Sydney sat up and faced Francie, "It's my father…it's like, every time I get close to him, he takes two steps back. Sometimes I wonder why I even try."

Francie wanted to explain to Sydney exactly what her opinion of Jack was, but found it best not to, "Because you're a good person, that's why. And I bet your father knows this; that's why he's kept himself away from you. He's afraid that if he gets too close to you, you might see something you don't like about him. And trust me Syd your father loves you…he might not show it, but it's there."

Sydney gave Francie a huge hug and realized she was right. Her father would have died for her. Sydney began to feel foolish thinking Jack didn't love her.

"Thanks Fran…what would I do without you?" Sydney asked, letting out a small laugh.

Francie sighed and smiled at Sydney, "What would you or Will ever do without me?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing."

"Get some sleep…and cheer up; there'll be brighter days. I promise."

Sydney gave Francie one last hug before heading off to bed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Chapter 24

Sloane was patiently waiting in his office for Jack's arrival. Soon enough, Jack walked in through the door.

"You wanted to see me about something?"

"Yeah, why don't you have a seat first?"

Jack took a seat facing Sloane.

"Jack I haven't told you this, but…", Sloane's voice drifted.

"But what?" Jack asked, looking concerned.

"Jack, Emily died a few days ago. It seems that the lymphoma spread rather quickly and well…things just took a turn for the worst. I didn't want to tell anyone this, especially you and Sydney. Considering how Irina just surfaced out of nowhere."

Jack gave Sloane a look of sympathy, "I'm sorry to hear that. Are you all right?"

Sloane seemed dazed, but he soon focused his attention back on Jack, "Yes, yes I'm fine. Well, we're straying of topic here. I wanted to ask you if you could oversee SD-6's activities while I'm gone. I have to fly to London to meet with the Alliance."

"Of course. I'd be happy to fill in for you. Although I'm curious, does your meeting with the Alliance have anything to do with Laura?"

"No, it doesn't. But it has something to do with my current position here in SD-6. And I'm going to be honest with you, Jack, there are going to be some very big changes around here…very big." 

Jack stared at Sloane's malicious expression. "Well, I think that'll be all. Thanks in advance Jack."

"No problem."

As Jack left Sloane's office, he spotted Sydney. He quickly walked over to her. "Sydney about the other night…I…"

Sydney cut him off, "It doesn't matter, dad, I put it behind me."

"No Sydney, it doesn't give me an excuse to have acted that way. You have to understand the whole situation that we're in. There isn't any room for mistakes, and…"

"Really dad, it's ok. I understand why you said what you said…and I forgive you."

Jack smiled at Sydney and lightly touched her shoulder. "Sydney I'm…well, what I'm trying to say is…"

"Jack, Sydney, the meeting is about to begin," Sloane said interrupting them.

"Yes well, we better get going."

"Dad, wait…what were you going to tell me."

"It's nothing. Well, we don't want to keep Sloane waiting."

Sydney smiled at her father. She knew exactly what he was trying to say.

"Sydney…" Jack said, interrupting her thoughts.

"Oh yes…right."

Sydney and Jack entered the conference room to find Sloane and Dixon waiting for them.

"Well then, now that we're all here, we can begin. From what we've gathered about Irina Derevko, she's working on some sort of Rambaldi invention, very similar to the device that we've gathered back in Taipei."

Sydney looked at Sloane curiously, "What does she plan to use it for?"

"We're not quite sure what she planning on using it for. We have very little intel about this device. All we know is that it's some sort of weapon, and since we don't have that book, we're not sure what its use is."

Sloane motioned for Jack to take over the conversation. "That's where you two come in. You are to go to Zurich. Retrieve the book, capture Irina tomorrow night, and bring her back here."

Sydney looked at her father, shocked. The last time she had faced her mother, they were all almost killed. Dixon watched Sydney curiously, and as soon as she noticed, she shook the look off.

Sloane began to speak again, "Now ,you two have to understand that this is going to be a rather difficult mission. It's not like the rest. Irina Derevko is quite observant, so she might already know you're coming. That's why we're going to set up a team, just in case any surprises turn up. Another thing, I will be absent for a few days, and while I'm gone Jack will head the SD-6 office. Now that you both have been briefed…good luck tomorrow."

As Sydney and Dixon exited the room, Jack pulled Sloane to the side, "Arvin, I want to be part of the extraction team."

"Jack, Sydney's a big girl. She doesn't need you looking out for her anymore."

"I know that, but you have to understand something here, Sydney's going after Irina. We both know what she's capable of!"

"All right, Jack, if it pleases you, you can head the extraction team. I'll just appoint someone else to head up SD-6 while I'm gone.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get some of my affairs in order before my flight tomorrow."

"Certainly."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Warehouse)

Jack slowly made his way to where Vaughn was standing.

"The place is clear; we can talk."

"Sydney tells me you were aware that Dixon knew she was a double."

"Yes, that's true. I was going to contact you about this, but…"

"It doesn't matter," Jack interrupted. "What I need you to do, is to follow him. Make sure that he really is true about becoming a double, that he's not secretly reporting to Sloane on the side."

"Sure…but Jack the CIA knows Sydney's going back to Zurich, and they've been curious to know what happened to those surveillance photos she took of Irina."

"Yes, I was aware of that, as for the surveillance photos I took care of that problem myself."

"How?"

"I scrambled the transmission and made it seem as if it were equipment problems."

"Oh… Jack I'm worried about Sydney. Do you think it's safe for Sloane to send her. I mean he knows that…".

"Yes, I know," Jack interrupted. "But Sloane is quite fond of Sydney somehow."

"Strange."

"Yes, well I better get back."

"Sure thing."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sydney entered her house to find Will sitting on the couch.

"Will…what are you doing here?" Sydney asked, sitting next to him.

"I tried to get a hold of you yesterday, but Francie said you were at Dixon's."

"Hold on, Will," Sydney said, blasting up some music. "I was…um, does my father know you're out?"

"No, I don't think so…but they said I was free to leave."

"Who cleared you?"

"Um...Devlin, I think?"

Sydney looked confused, "Devlin cleared you?"

"Yeah why? Is something wrong?"

"No, no it's nothing."

"Syd, I need to talk to you about something."

"What about?"

"When I was over at the CIA, they gave two options. One, to be agent, and two, to be in a witness protection program. And Syd…I don't wanna hide."

"Will please, you have to promise you won't let them recruit you."

"Syd, it seems better than hiding. I mean…if I become an agent, I'd be able to look out for you."

Sydney began to sob, "Will, trust me you don't want my life. The lies…watching people die. It's…It's…"

Will took Sydney into his arms. "It's ok. Shhh…it's ok. If you don't want me to, then I won't." 

"Promise me you won't, Will."

"I promise."

After countless conversations, Will and Sydney fell asleep next to one another. Soon enough, the sun began to rise. Sydney quietly got up, making sure she didn't wake Will. As soon as she was ready, she left and went to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dixon and Sydney entered Marshall's office to find him sitting down fiddling with something.

Sydney noticed Marshall had quite an intense look on his face. Then Marshall began to yell, "Jump…come on, jump! Ahhh," Marshall said smacking his head.

Dixon and Sydney looked at one another, puzzled as to why Marshall was yelling. "Marshall?"

Marshall was startled by the sound of Dixon's voice, "Oh, I didn't…I didn't know anyone was here."

Sydney smiled at him, "Marshall, what are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm just playing Spiderman. It's a…it's a game, see," Marshall held up a Gameboy Advance. "I was on the final level, when this thing just popped out of nowhere. It's like, ahhh," Marshall said, pretending his hand was a claw. "Um… ok, if you'd just follow me. I'll show you the equipment you're going to use."

Marshall walked over to a table and picked up a jar filled with dead insects. He removed a fly out and handed it to Sydney.

"What is it?"

"It's a fly…well, a replica of one, that is. Looks pretty real, doesn't it?"

Sydney touched the fly with her pinky, "What does it do?"

"That's a very good question. This is actually a scrambler. You pin it on any electronic lock and it unscrambles the lock code like that," Marshall said snapping his fingers. "And if anyone finds this they'll simply…"

"They'll simply think it's a bug," Dixon said interrupting him.

"Yes, exactly."

Dixon looked at Marshall, "Is this it?"

"Oh no, Mr. Sloane asked me to make these for you," Marshall said, handing them two guns. "It's a…it's a 9-mm semiautomatic equipped with a silencer. I'm sorry, guns…guns make me nervous. You never know when they might go off. Yes, well the ammunition is over there."

Marshall pointed to a large bag, "Oh, and there's a pair of night vision goggles in there, which also have heat sensors. Those things are quite handy…especially when you're on the other side of a wall," Marshall said laughing. "Well, good luck on your mission."

Dixon grabbed the equipment and headed out the door, while Sydney thanked Marshall.

"Thanks." Sydney knew she was going to need it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ben Devlin was sitting at his desk anxiously waiting for a call. Soon enough, his phone rang. "Hello?"

Devlin heard no response. Instead, the line went dead.

"What, hello…hello?" Devlin screamed.

When Devlin got no response, he decided to check the number. He soon realized that the caller used a code. For the numbers 732-3943 meant R-E-A-D-Y I-D. Devlin knew that it was time for him to meet with Irina.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	8. Default Chapter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was four o'clock, and Jack sat close to the fireplace. He was quietly looking at photos of himself and Sydney. He didn't care what time it was, or that he had to be up in two hours. For Jack had never really had a decent amount of sleep in over twenty-five years. In fact the only times he did, was when he had a full bottle of Scotch in him, but he wasn't going to allow himself that privilege. Suddenly, the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Dad, it's me. Did I wake you?"

"No…is something wrong?" Jack asked worriedly.

"No, not really. I couldn't sleep and…Dad, it's about Will. I'm worried that Devlin might recruit him. I mean, he said he wouldn't… but Will's pretty unpredictable."

"So you want me to talk to Devlin for you?"

"Yes…Dad, I can't have Will do this. He doesn't deserve this life."

Jack stayed silent for a brief moment before answering in an almost sympathetic tone, "I understand, Sydney. I'll take care of it for you."

"Thanks, Dad...good night."

"You too."

As soon as Sydney hung up, Jack resumed what he was doing. He came upon a picture of Irina and himself under a tree. At the site of this, Jack briefly remembered the times when he was happy. The times he actually _loved _someone. He quickly threw away that thought, as well as the picture. Jack felt utterly disgusted with himself. How could he have allowed himself to be so easily deceived? To have a child with a women who was merely doing her job. All of a sudden Jack had a sudden urge to pour himself a drink, but instead found himself glued to the floor. Watching the picture burn, watching his old life burn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


Dixon and Sydney patiently waited for Jack to brief them.

"Dixon, I had your present delivered to your grandmother."

Dixon looked puzzled as to what Sydney was saying but soon picked up, "Oh, so she got it then?"

"Yes, just a few days ago."

"Well I hoped she likes it. My grandmother's a little picky."

"Trust me, I'm pretty sure she will. She might have a little trouble opening it, considering it's a rather big present. But I'm sure when she takes a good look at it, she'll think that it was sweet of you for thinking about her," Sydney said, smiling.

Dixon let out a short laugh, "Ok."

Jack then entered the room, "Sorry I'm late. I've just finished assembling the extraction team."

"So Jack, are we all set?"

"Yes. I've taken the liberty of having this made," Jack said, spreading a large blueprint across the table. "There are 12 cameras placed around the building. You, Mr. Dixon, shall pose as their newly hired guard and enter in here," Jack said pointing to the middle. "You are to make a left when you see the staircase; after that, you'll be led into a long corridor. Go straight, until you get to the last door and you'll be led into the control room. We've made an exact replica of all the rooms that are heavily watched over. You play this tape, so that Sydney can safely make her way in."

"How will I know if Sydney's in or not?"

"With these. These glasses allow you and only you to see what the cameras are really capturing. Tap the side to switch to a different camera."

Jack soon turned his attention to Sydney. "Now Sydney, once you've entered, you must be very careful because there are guards positioned throughout the entire building. But I'm confident that you shall surpass that. The only area of the building that I want you to look out for, is the restricted section. This room is equipped with major security sensors that aren't transparent, so you'll need these," Jack said handing Sydney another pair of glasses. "Just tap the side of that as well, and you'll be able to see them. Now listen, Sydney, the security sensors go by a pattern that changes every thirty seconds. So memorize it; after that, use the code scrambler that Marshall gave you to unlock the door. Once you're in, grab the book and you and Dixon get out of there."

Sydney and Dixon looked confused, "What about Irina?"

"That, Mr. Dixon…I'll take care of."

Sydney gave her father a worried look, but he ignored it, "Now that you both have been briefed, I'll meet you at the take off point in three hours."

Dixon left the conference room and Jack and Sydney were alone.

"Dad, what are you doing? You can't possibly take on Mom by yourself; it's suicide, and I won't let you."

"Sydney, I'm not going to be alone. I have plenty of backup with me. I figured it will save us a lot of time of time. You retrieve the book, I capture Irina."

Sydney stared at her father for a moment, as if trying to figure him out. Sadly though, she could not. For Jack had one amazing poker face that could hide just about anything. Sydney wondered how deep Jack's secrets really went, and if he'd ever share them with her. 

"Dad…just be careful, all right?"

"I will."

"Ok."

Jack exited the room, while Sydney watched him slowly walk away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


"Mr. Devlin, Agent Jack Bristow is here to see you, sir."

"Send him right in."

Jack entered the room, and quickly came to his point, "Ben I need to talk to you about Will Tippin."

"Oh yes, that's right, Sydney's friend. Well, I already let him go."

"Yes, I'm aware of that. Sydney tells me that you might recruit him?"

"Well, that was one of the options that I gave him. And believe me, he wasn't too taken with the idea of him being in the witness protection program."

"Ben, I need to ask a favor from you."

"Ok, what is it?"

"I need you to pull Tippin's file."

"But Jack…then that would mean that he was never in our custody to begin with. We'd be lying to the CIA."

"Yes, I know that Ben. But I assure you, Tippin won't talk."

"Really Jack, how can you be so sure?" Devlin screamed.

"He and Sydney are very close. He's promised her that he wouldn't." 

Devlin remained silent and stared at Jack, "Ben, Tippin isn't a threat to us. Just let him go…please."

"Jack, you know, you really need to get your priorities rearranged," Devlin said, dialing the phone.

The phone rang three times before a woman picked up. "Yeah, this is Devlin. I need you to pull a file out for me."

"And what file would that be, sir?"

"Will Tippin, case # 302."

"One moment, please."

Jack watched Devlin as he patiently waited for the woman to return.

"Sir, I've found the file. Should I have it brought up to you?"

"Uh…no, just dispose of it."

The woman on the other line seemed confused, "Dispose of it, sir?"

"Yes, it's no longer of importance to the CIA."

"Yes sir, right away."

"Yes, well thank you," Devlin said, hanging up the phone.

Devlin turned to face Jack, "Well Jack, it's done."

"Thanks, I owe you one."

"If you want to repay me, Jack, I suggest you see Bartnett. I'm a little worried about you these days."

Jack nodded in acknowledgement, "Yes, well I think I'm quite fine. Thank you for your concern though."

Devlin sighed, "Any time, Jack."

Jack shook Devlin's hand and thanked him one last time before exiting his office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


Jack was on his way to the take off point, when his cell phone rang. Jack picked it up, "Yes?"

"Jack, it's me."

"Hold on," Jack said, attaching a small device to the back of his phone.

"All right, we're good to talk. Vaughn, what is it?"

'It's about Dixon, Jack. I've kept a watch on him, and he hasn't done anything suspicious. I think it's pretty much safe to say that he's telling the truth."

"Even so, I want you to watch him until I say so. We never know what kind of surprises might turn up."

"All right."

"I'll meet with you when I get back," Jack said, hanging up the phone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


Jack arrived to find the extraction team already there. He approached one of the ranking officers. "We're all set, sir. Will it be long till Agent Bristow and Dixon arrive?"

"No, I'm sure they'll be here shortly. Have you looked over the blueprints that I had sent to you?"

"Yes, sir. We've also memorized all the possible escape routes."

Jack looked pleased, "That's good to hear."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


"Dixon, how long till we're there?"

"Not long…maybe ten minutes more."

"Oh…ok."

Dixon looked at Sydney, and gave her a brief smile before returning his attention to the road. "So Sydney, how long have you known your friend."

"What…oh, I see. Well, maybe a little over a year now."

"Really…so do you…"

"Of course not," Sydney said, gently smacking his shoulder. "Well I mean, I invited him to a hockey game once."

"And?"

"And…well, we had that little situation with Cole and…and well, we didn't pursue it."

"Oh…well, sometimes being lonely just goes with the job, Syd. But don't worry, there's still plenty of time for a social life. And who knows, maybe one day you and your friend can still make that hockey game," Dixon said, smirking.

They soon arrived, and Dixon parked his car next to Jack's. Sydney and Dixon made their way over to where Jack and the extraction team were standing.

"Sorry we took so long, Jack," Dixon said apologetically.

"It's quite all right, you're just in time anyway. Well, now that you two are here, suit up."

Sydney was strapping her vest when Jack walked over to her, "Sydney, I just wanted to go over where the cameras are positioned with you again," Jack said unrolling the blueprints.

Sydney could tell that her father was nervous for her, but said nothing.

"Dad, really, I don't need you to go over them again. I've memorized exactly where the cameras are."

"Even so, Sydney."

"Dad, trust me, I'm sure."

Jack rolled the blueprints back up, "All right then. Are you wired yet?"

"Yeah."

"Good, then we're all set."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


"Irina, what exactly does this thing do?"

"You'll see once it's complete," Irina paused for a moment, just staring at Devlin. "So, are you aware that Jack and Sydney will be joining us soon?" Irina asked, now focusing her attention to the device being made.

Devlin was shocked by this, "He is?…Are you certain?"

"I'm a little displeased that you aren't already aware of this. Well, it doesn't matter. I'll soon see if you're as loyal as you say you are."

Devlin had a look of deplore on his face, "Of course…what can I do?"

"Nothing for now. But when the time comes, you'll know. And I do hope that you won't deny me my request, Ben, because the one thing I hate is to be denied. Especially by a man."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Irina gave Devlin a malicious smile and walked away, leaving him alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


Meanwhile, Sydney sat by herself, contemplating whether or not her father was the best person to be on this mission. She was certain that her mother was too much for him to handle. The mere mention of her name made his lip twitch a bit. Although Sydney knew Jack would never admit it. To her or to himself. 

Jack was also thinking about Irina. Although it was quite different from what Sydney was thinking. For Jack had revenge on his mind. He wanted to punish Irina. To make her scream. He wanted to hear her plead for her life, but most of all he wanted to see her bleed. He wanted her to suffer just like he had suffered. Although Jack knew that wasn't enough. It still didn't satisfy him. Jack knew the only way he would ever be satisfied, was if Irina were dead; and tonight he was going to end his suffering once and for all.

They soon arrived in Zurich and were all set to go. They drove to the restaurant and parked four blocks down.

Jack was busy checking all the surveillance while Sydney took in deep, nervous breaths. Dixon had a look of concern on his face, "Syd, you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sydney lied. In fact, Sydney was more nervous than ever. She had a strange feeling, although she couldn't quite explain it.

Jack began to speak, interrupting her thoughts, "All right, everything's all set. You ready?"

Sydney turned to face Dixon, and watched him reply, "Yeah, I'm ready."

Dixon opened the van door and headed out. Jack and Sydney carefully observed him through their surveillance equipment. Dixon soon entered through an open door located in the back of the building. As he entered, he made a left and was led to a long corridor. Dixon then came to the very last door and entered the control room. As he entered, he caught the attention of the two men there. Both men extended their hands for Dixon to shake.

As they shook hands they introduced themselves, "I'm Ernst," the taller man said. "And this is Lubitsch," who was much shorter and pudgier than his colleague.

Dixon responded speaking fluent Schwyzertütsch, "I'm Johann Picard."

The taller man spoke up once again, "Well, we all better be getting back to work, before Livingston comes back again." He headed back to his desk.

As soon as their backs were turned, Dixon slyly pulled off one of the cables.

"What…what happened?"

"Lubitsch, Johann, help me see what's the matter!" he ordered.

Lubitsch and Ernst were quickly searching for the problem, while Dixon popped in the tape. He then re-plugged the cable and the picture soon came back on. Dixon placed the glasses on and said, "It's on," causing the two men to look at him.

Sydney and Jack knew it was time, so Sydney quickly exited the van and carefully entered the building.

"What happened…how'd you fix it?" The men asked, looking puzzled.

"The cable must have come loose, so I plugged it back in."

Ernst eyed him with suspicion, while Lubitsch wiped the sweat that came from his forehead.

"Really… and how do you suppose that happened?"

Dixon shrugged his shoulders, "I must have accidentally pulled it with my foot."

Ernst still did not take his eyes away from Dixon, "Oh, I see…well, don't do it again."

Dixon again apologized and turned his back away from Ernst.

Libitsch walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder, "Don't worry, he's like that all the time, ever since they hired Livingston for head security."

Dixon had heard this name before but couldn't quite remember who it was, "Livingston?"

"Yes, a big grouch if you ask me. Flew all the way from France for that job."

Dixon looked puzzled, "Livingston…doesn't sound French."

Lubitsch gave Dixon an almost quiet laugh, "Oh sorry. That's because he's actually Scottish. Now, if you'll excuse me, I should keep a watch on these cameras, and so should you."

Dixon nodded in acknowledgement and sat back down, turning on his glasses. As he watched Sydney make her way through the building, he soon remembered where he had heard that name before. Livingston was highly sought for by the CIA for the most notorious crimes, such as being hired to assassinate politicians, ambassadors; blowing up buildings filled with innocent people…and the list went on. In fact, he's been known to decline payment sometimes. Just as long as his task was worth it. Killing was definitely his sport, and Dixon now knew that Irina meant serious business. All he could do was pray for Sydney, and hope that she didn't have to meet up with him.

Dixon was busily looking through each camera, when he noticed Jack in the building…alone. He quietly whispered under his breath, trying not to catch the attention of the other two men with him, "Jack what are you doing…and why are you here alone?"

Jack ignored Dixon, and placed his ear and transmission piece inside his pocket.

"Jack, Jack…hello?" Dixon was now starting to worry, so he carefully contacted Sydney. "Syd, there's a problem."

Sydney was now in the restricted section, and had just about memorized the sensor pattern when Dixon interrupted her, "Dixon what is it?"

"It's Jack…" Sydney soon cut him off. "What about him…did something happen?"

"No, nothing like that," he said, trying to reassure her. "But he's in the building alone, and right now, I don't think it wise of him to be here by himself, no matter how capable your father may be."

Sydney knew that Jack was going after her mother, "Right, I'll get him."

"No," Dixon said, almost catching Ernst's attention.

"What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything."

"I'm quite certain that you did."

"It's all right Ernst, he didn't say anything."

"Shut up Lubitsch! I know what I heard, and I'm pretty sure he was speaking to someone."

Lubitsch stared at Dixon, and Dixon stared back at him dumfounded. "Ernst, calm down. Why don't you go outside with me? It's nearly break time. You'll watch the cameras, won't you Johann."

"Yes, of course."

"There, you see. Now, come Ernst," Lubitsh said, opening the door and motioning him out.

Ernst hesitated for a while, but soon realized he was a bit tired, and decided to go with Lubitsch. But before doing so, he warned Dixon, "Don't try anything. For your sake."

"All right, all right. We'll be back in fifteen minutes," Lubistch said, smiling.

Dixon nodded and turned his head. Ernst watched him before being shoved out the door.

Sydney heard this and continued to speak to Dixon, "Everything all right now?"

"Yeah. Just get the book," Dixon said, looking over his shoulder.

"Dixon, what about my dad? I have to get to him."

Dixon knew he wouldn't win this debate, so instead he decided to compromise, "Fine, I'll get him. You just get the book…and hurry."

"All right…but Dixon, what about Irina?" Dixon didn't know that Irina was Sydney's mother, and she thought it better that way. 

"Don't worry about that. Just worry about getting the book."

"Fine…Dixon….just be careful."

"I will."

Sydney took a minute to memorize the pattern, and soon enough, she got it. She knew it was quite difficult to get through, so she took a moment until the pattern had changed again. Then, finally leaping into the middle. _Just like hopscotch, _she thought to herself. Sydney leaped again and again until she was almost at the door. She took one more leap and almost lost her balance, but luckily she took ballet as a child, so she quickly stopped herself from falling. Sydney walked over to the door and placed the code scrambler on top of the electronic lock. She waited ten seconds until the lock granted her access. As Sydney entered the vault she found that there was nothing there. She contacted Dixon, "Dixon, there's nothing here," but sadly, there was no answer. As Sydney turned, a man stood in front of her pointing a gun.

He gave her one malicious smile. "Surprise," he said, before pulling the trigger.   


Sydney was fully conscious and aware that she was being carried by a man she recognized from somewhere. She tried to move, but found that she was in a paralyzed state.

"Who are you?" she asked, but the man remained silent. "Ok, not much of a talker, huh?" Still, no answer.

He soon stopped in front of a door and dropped Sydney. Sydney injured her wrist at the sudden drop. He soon picked her back up and carried her inside. He laid her back on a chair and started to tie her up.

"Is this really necessary? I mean, I'm sure you're aware that I can't move."

The man gave Sydney a smile, which surprised her, "You talk too much, Miss. Bristow."

Sydney noticed that his accent was Scottish and soon became aware of who he was, "You're Robert Livingston aren't you?"

"Why, yes, I am."

"So…how much are they paying you to do this? Whatever it is, I'm sure we can come to some agreement. Just name your price," Sydney lied.

"Actually, Miss. Bristow, I'm not getting anything. Well, Ms. Derevko has been very generous, but I kindly declined her payment. I find her tasks to be quite rewarding as it is." Livingston glanced at his watch. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go and announce your arrival. I'm sure you'll be quite surprised to see who's here."

Livingston exited the room, and returned with Irina, and to Sydney's surprise…Devlin.

"Devlin….no, you can't be?"

"Can't be what, Sydney? The mole?"

Livingston had a big grin on his face, but soon wiped it off, when Irina began to speak.

"Sydney, I'm sure you know Ben?"

Sydney gave Devlin a cold stare, "Yes…unfortunately, I do."

Devlin turned away from her, thus catching Irina's attention.

"Sydney, I've been very patient with you, but now I need an answer to my question. Will you join me? Think very hard, Sydney. Don't be stupid."

"Or you'll what…kill me, just like how you killed Vera. You'll excuse me if I don't nominate you for Mother of the Year," Sydney said bitterly.

Irina had a look of complete rage on her face. Devlin saw this and decided to break the tension in the room.

"Sydney, think about what your mother is offering you. Don't be foolish enough to turn this down. For your sake, just accept it."

Sydney turned to face Devlin, and then her mother, "I'd rather die first."

Irina looked furious now, "Very well! If you think that I'm going to play these games with you, Sydney, you're mistaken. I've kept myself under control when dealing with you, but now that you've made your answer clear to me, you're…"

"Irina, wait!" Devlin exclaimed, a pure look of horror on his face. "Give her a while to come around. Can you honestly tell me that you're willing to kill another one of your daughters?"

"If I have to…yes. Ben, I'm starting to think…" Irina was soon cut off by the sound of a sudden ringing. Livingston picked up his cell phone and talked in a hushed tone.

"Livingston?"

"Sir, we have something that might interest you."

"What is it?"

"We've caught two men roaming the building. One says he works here. The other…we're not so sure about."

"I'll be there right away," Livingston said before hanging up.   


"Problem?" Devlin asked, looking concerned.

"Nothing that I can't handle."

Irina turned to Face Livingston, "So, I hear more of our guests have arrived."

"Yes, it seems one works for us as well."

"Hmm, well then," Irina said, turning her attention back to Sydney. "We'll take care of that problem."

"What about this one, Miss," Livingston said, pointing to Sydney. "What shall I do with her?"

Irina had a huge grin on her face now. "Nothing yet. But be patient, Robert, you'll have your chance soon enough."

Sydney was utterly disgusted by Irina. She hated everything about her. She didn't even know why she had admired this woman for so long. Now she felt like the foolish one. Irina was nothing like the woman she had called _mom._ Sydney regretted the fact that she had even referred Irina to that. For Irina was nothing like a mother; she was cold and ruthless, and cared for no one but herself. Sydney just stared at her for a moment, and as Irina came closer, Sydney spat in her face. Devlin and Livingston looked shocked, but were even more shocked to see that Irina had remained so calm.

Livingston handed her a handkerchief, and she kindly accepted it. Irina faced Sydney. "It's a pity…for a moment, I actually regretted my decision to kill you. It doesn't matter. I honestly don't need you. I just thought that maybe I could share this with my daughters. But clearly that won't be happening. As you Americans say, if you want the job done right you have to do it yourself. Isn't that right, Ben?"

Devlin nodded in agreement.

"Well then, I believe I'm finished with you, Sydney. It's been a…pleasure to have met you. But now we _sadly_ must part." Irina now turned to face Devlin, "Ben would you be kind enough to watch Sydney while Robert and I take care of our unwanted guests? Don't worry, you won't have to watch her for long. I'll send someone shortly to retrieve her."

"Why, of course."

"All right then. Come, Robert."

Livingston and Irina left the room, and Sydney and Devlin were alone. Devlin quickly came to her side.

"Listen, Sydney what I'm about to tell you is very important."

Sydney looked confused, "What are you doing?"

"Sydney, just listen to me," he said, trying to keep his composure. "I'm here under cover." Sydney looked shocked, "Does anyone know about this?"

"Yes, a few do."

"Does my father?"

"No, he doesn't. Sydney, you have to understand what I'm doing here. I need Irina to trust me enough so that she can tell me what she's planning on doing with this Rambaldi device. And the only way I could do that, was to pose as the mole. It's a perfect cover."

"Don't worry about the device. I took care of it."

"Yes, I'm aware, but Irina is rebuilding it again. We don't know what it's for yet, but there's another Rambaldi book in here. That could tell us what that thing's for. And she almost trusts me enough to show it to me. But you showing up here is leading to disaster. Why didn't you tell the CIA you were coming here?"

"My father suspected there was a mole. We didn't know who to trust."

Devlin paused for a moment trying to get his thoughts together.

"All right, Sydney, I'm going to untie you. After that, you're on your own."

"I understand."   


****

Chapter 25

Sydney made her way through the many long corridors of the building, until she was stopped by a guard.

"Hold it right there," he said, picking up a two-radio. Although he made one fatal mistake by briefly removing his eyes from Sydney. Before he had a chance to react, he was on the ground unconscious, allowing Sydney to strip him of both his guns and radio. Sydney then dragged him into a custodian's closet, and left.   


Jack and Dixon were tied and strapped with chains to a chair. Dixon slowly regained consciousness to see Jack viciously pulling at the chains.

"Jack…what happened?" he asked absently.

"Well, from what you can see, we've been caught."

From Jack's tone, Dixon could tell that he was bitter, but he didn't want to get into that. Especially with Jack.

"Where's the extraction team, and why weren't they with you?"

"I told them to stand-down until I've inspected the building."

Dixon looked confused, "Inspect the building for what? Our objective was to retrieve the book and capture Irina. Unless there was something else planned that I wasn't aware of."

Jack gave Dixon a glare. "I was trying to take pictures of the Rambaldi device, if you really must know".

"For the CIA?"

"Yes," Jack lied.

In fact, taking pictures was the furthest thought from his mind.

"Jack, I understand you don't trust me, but…" 

Jack soon cut him off. "This is not the time to be talking about this."

"I understand that, but I'm pretty sure you won't give me the time or day. So, you're just going to have to bear with me."

Jack raised an eyebrow, "All right."

"Jack I understand your concerns about me, but I can assure you that I will never hurt Sydney. And I'm telling you the honest truth when I say that I've never known the real truth about SD-6, or whom I was really working for, for that matter. When I found out the truth about SD-6, I felt betrayed, but most of all, I felt shame. I was actually working against my country," Dixon paused for a moment. "But now I have a chance to fix all that…that is, if you'll give it to me."

Jack looked at Dixon and seemed content with his words, "Your request won't be official until I run it by Devlin, the CIA director. So I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. If and when they accept your proposal, you will be closely observed. So I suggest you don't try crossing us."

Dixon seemed satisfied with Jack's answer. After all, he was speaking with Jack Bristow and this was as much of an _acceptance_ as he could get from the guy. 

Irina and Livingston soon interrupted the two of them, "Hello Jack. Nice to see you again."

"You know her?" Dixon asked, muttering under his breath.

Irina overheard this and answered him, "Of course he does. We've been very good…_friends_ in the past. Well then, let's discuss this visit of yours."

Dixon and Jack remained silent. "All right, then…Tell me what old Arvin is up to these days? I've heard about that little incident with his wife. Quite unfortunate isn't it?" Irina sighed. "Still not speaking are we? It doesn't matter…I'm tired of these conversations. Robert, if you please." Irina said, grinning.

Livingston too, had quite a large grin on his face. He turned to face the two men in front of him. "With pleasure," he said, rubbing his hands together .

As he was opening a metal suitcase, he suddenly felt the coldness of metal on his neck.

"I don't think so," Sydney said, pointing a gun at Livingston and Irina.

"Sydney!" Dixon exclaimed.

"Are you guys all right?" Sydney asked, making sure to keep her eyes on both Livingston and Irina.

They both quickly answered her, "Yes, we're fine."

Sydney quickly instructed Livingston and Irina to place their weapons on the table. Once they did, she instructed them to stand by Dixon and Jack.

"Ok…you two, untie them. And if you try anything, I will kill you."

The seriousness in Sydney's voice shocked Dixon and surprised even Jack. Irina and Livingston carefully untied the both of them. As soon as they were both free from their restraints, Jack and Dixon walked over to the table and each took a gun.

"Did you get the book?" Dixon asked.

"No, it wasn't there."

Irina laughed and Sydney looked irritated, "What can possibly be so funny? You're not exactly in the position to laugh."

Irina stared Sydney straight in the eye, as if telling her she wasn't frightened. "That's because it doesn't exist anymore. I had it destroyed after I discovered that SD-6 had confirmation that we had it."

"Really?" Jack said, eyeing her with suspicion. 

"Yes, I…" but a guard that entered with Devlin soon interrupted them.

"Hold it right there," Dixon said, pointing a gun at him. "Set the gun slowly on the ground and stay where you are." 

As the guard set his gun down, Dixon quickly walked over to him and knocked him unconscious.

Devlin looked quite battered, and Jack looked at him questioningly, "Ben what are you doing here?"

"It's all right, Dad. I'll explain this to you later."

Little did they know, Livingston had just released tear gas. He easily passed by Dixon and out the door, leaving Irina in their possession.

"I'm going after him!" Sydney yelled, just before exiting the room.

Jack kept a close eye on Irina while speaking with Dixon, "Dixon, help Devlin out and then contact the CIA. They'll come and extract him. Then get a hold of the team waiting outside and tell them to secure the building."

"Jack, wait," Devlin interrupted. "The CIA needs Irina."

"All right. I'll take care of this," Jack lied. 

After Dixon and Devlin left the room, Jack and Irina were alone. Jack closely watched her every move, not taking his eye off her for even a second. The tension the two of them were creating was very intense. The silence was too awkward, even for Irina. She wondered what he was thinking or if he was even thinking of her, but somehow, she knew. No matter how hard he tried to hide it, she knew. His face told it all.

"Jack," she, and paused, leaning on the table. "I know what you may be thinking. How can I use you? Leave you and Sydney behind? I know those questions must have entered your mind. All you need to do is ask and I'll gladly answer," she said, smiling.

Jack glared at her and firmly answered back, "Shut up." 

He never once put the gun down. Instead, he steadily pointed it at her. 

She smiled at him, as if his response didn't bother her. "Jack," she said, slowly walking to him. "I know a part of you still wants me. You hate to admit it to yourself, but you know I'm right. I remember the times when we…" Jack soon cut her off, and by the sound of his voice he was outraged. He cocked his gun as she moved closer to him. 

Irina had quite an amused look on her face, "Jack what do you think you're doing? You know you can't bring yourself to do that." She was now even closer.

Jack raised an eyebrow, "Oh really? You'll be surprised as to how many things have changed. I can kill you before you can even blink."

Irina laughed, "Now, if you had been more like this, we would've had a longer marriage." 

She was now so close that their bodies were touching. Jack somehow couldn't back away from her. He questioned what was happening, and why he hadn't killed her already. As she kissed him, the sound of a gun went off, and everything started to blur.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


Sydney closely followed Livingston from behind. She watched him turn a corner and quickly followed him. When she was hit from the side, causing her to drop her gun. Sydney was now facing the ground. As she attempted to stand, Livingston struck her shoulder with a hammer. The powerful force sent her back down and caused her shoulder to fracture. Sydney was now crawling away from Livingston, but found it useless. She stopped by a stairwell and tried helplessly to pull herself back up. 

"What's a matter, Miss. Bristow?" Livingston asked, tilting his head. "Have nothing else to say now?"

He kicked her once again, causing the air to be knocked out of her. Livingston then left Sydney for a moment to retrieve the gun that she had just dropped. This gave Sydney just enough time to slowly run up the stairs. Livingston found this amusing, and laughed at Sydney's attempt to escape. He then cocked the gun back and pulled the trigger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


Within moments Dixon had spotted the CIA extraction team heading their way.

"Alright, looks like they're here. Do you need me to wait with you?" Dixon said, looking concerned.

"No, that won't be necessary. You do what you have to do."

As Dixon left, one of the ranking officers approached Devlin.

"Sir, we've captured Ms. Derevko and her accomplice. We're taking them back to the U.S. as requested."

"Were there any problems regarding her capture?"

"Just one sir…" the agent cleared his throat. "It appears that Ms. Derevko and her accomplice were boarding a taxi cab. Clearly we didn't detect her presence since….we…"

"Yes, I understand. She doesn't seem like the type to ride a cab, now, does she?"

"No sir, she doesn't. The situation was further complicated when a civilian alerted one of the local officials. We had a little difficulty trying to explain the situation to them without SD-6 getting a hold of the information. So we simply said that she was an American posed as a citizen, and that we're taking her back to U.S. under confedential reasons. They seemed to believe the story so we've asked them not to fill out any reports or even report this matter to anyone. "And since they're Swiss…" the agent said laughing. He soon stopped when Devlin gave him a weary look. "Sorry sir"

"It's quite all right. Just cover up any traces that we were ever here".

"Yes sir, right away". 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	9. Default Chapter

y~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


The shot went off, and a bullet pierced Sydney's leg. Livingston knew he had no chance of escaping, since SD-6 would surely be on their way. So instead, he wanted to finish Sydney off nice and slow. He slowly walked up the stairs with the gun in one hand and a hammer in the other. He then made his way to where Sydney had collapsed.

"I must say, Miss. Bristow, you put up quite a fight. I didn't think you'd live this long. Too bad we can't truly savor this moment."

Sydney crawled further away from him. "SD-6 will be here any minute now. So, if you value your life, I suggest you leave our business unfinished."

Livingston let out a short laugh before answering her. "I wish I could. I would truly love to test your fighting skills," he sighed. "But unfortunately, I know without a doubt that I'll be captured. So I might as well enjoy this," he said, getting closer.

Livingston raised his arm ready to strike her again, when he was hit from behind.

"Dad!"

Jack looked at Sydney while clutching his right side. He slowly picked the gun up from Livingston's side and handed it to Sydney. 

"Sydney," he paused to take a breath. "You all right?"

"Yeah dad, I'm fine." She turned to face Livingston, who was on the ground. He seemed to be unconscious. 

Sydney noticed an enormous amount of blood seeping from Jack's cloths. "Oh my gosh, we gotta get you to a hospital!"

Jack ignored his own wound and noticed Sydney's instead, "Don't worry about me…can you walk?"

Sydney was surprised that her father wasn't the least bit concerned about himself, "Yeah I'll be fine. It's you I'm worried about."

Jack was about to answer her when nausea started to kick in. It soon became worse, when the entire room began to spin uncontrollably. Jack leaned back heavily against the railing, almost causing him to fall, when he noticed Livingston standing up. He ran toward them both, when Sydney turned quickly around and shot him. She kept shooting until she was left with only one more round. Livingston slowly backed away looking at the multiple wounds Sydney had just given him. He stopped when he felt his body touched the rail. Sydney then emptied her last round into him, causing him to tip over and fall. Livingston landed on top of a pole, which pierced through his body. Sydney watched his limp body lay there, until a loud thump caused her to turn around. Jack lay lifeless on the ground. Sydney's heart stopped. She quickly walked over to him and checked his pulse. He was still breathing, but quite rapidly.

Sydney knew she shouldn't panic, but that was all she could do.

"Dad….Dad. Stay with me…please," she said starting to sob. She then uttered the words she always wanted to say to him, "Dad, I need you."

Jack turned slightly to catch Sydney's gaze, "Sydney I know that I haven't been the perfect father," Jack paused starting to cough out blood this time "But I want you to know that I've always loved you….no matter…" Jack coughed yet again. Sydney stopped him from speaking by placing her finger on his lips, and wiping the blood from his mouth with her sleeve.

"Shhh Dad, I know…I know. Just stay with me, please," she said, letting the tears drip from her face. "Dad, you're gonna get through this…and when you do we'll have that dinner," she said, trying to smile.

Jack gripped her hand tightly, "I'd like that."

Sydney then spotted a group of men heading their way.

"Just hold on a little longer Dad. You'll make it, I promise," she said, kissing him on the cheek before leaving his side.

Sydney limped over to meet the group of agents.

"Listen, he needs to get to a hospital fast," she said, nearly out of breath.

The agent looked at Jack then back at her. "Listen!" Sydney said grabbing him by the neck. "If you don't get him to a hospital soon, I'll have your ass!"

The agent quickly reacted to the warning. "We have a man down. I repeat, we have a man down. Requesting immediate medical attention," he said yelling into a two-way.

"Roger that. Extraction in T minus two minutes."

"Copy that."

Sydney turned back to where her father lay and began to sob uncontrollably. All she could do was hope and that was it. The rest was out of her hands. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   


"I'm sorry ma'am, but….he didn't make it."

"What, are you sure?...I mean, how could this happen? My husband can't be dead," the woman said, weeping.

"I'm sorry," he said again before walking away.

Sydney watched as the woman collapsed on the floor and had to be helped up by a few nurses. The doors suddenly opened from behind them and out came Jack's doctor. He slowly walked to where Sydney was sitting. She felt completely nauseated. Thinking that she would soon become that woman. Learning that someone she loved was dead. The mere thought made her stomach turn. 

The doctor soon approached her, "Miss. Bristow, I'm happy to inform you that your father is just fine. Since the gun-wound was located at his lower right side, we had to remove his appendix. He has also lost an enormous amount of blood, but that problem was quickly solved with a blood transfusion. Although, he'll have to stay here for a few nights, just so we can monitor his progress. Other than that, he'll be just fine."

After that, Sydney began to feel calmer.

"Can I see him?"

"Normally no, but Mr. Sloane has ordered me to give complete access to your father as soon as possible. He may still be sleeping, though. So if you'd like to come back tomorrow when he's more aware of your presence, you can."

"No thanks. I'd like to see him now."

"Very well. Room 219 down there, four doors to your right."

Sydney quickly thanked the doctor and made her way down the hall. When she reached Jack's room, she took a moment to get herself together. She finally entered his room slowly and quietly, to find him fully awake and aware of her presence.

"Sydney."

"Hey, how do you feel?"

"A little dizzy, but other than just fine," he said assuring her.

Sydney sat beside Jack.

"Dad, when I saw you there…on the ground…it scared me. I always knew that no matter what happened, you were always going to be the one to save me. But when I saw you there…you looked so helpless…Dad, I don't want us to be apart anymore. I want things to be how they used to be. I want us to be a family again." By now Sydney had taken Jack into her arms. She didn't even loosen her grip. She just held him before whispering, "I love you."

Those words completely took Jack by surprise. Jack hadn't heard them for over twenty-five years. He took himself away from Sydney's grip to look into her eyes.

"Sydney, I know I may not be the perfect father…"

"Dad, it doesn't matter."

"Sydney, please just let me finish. After I found out the truth about your mother," Jack closed his eyes for a moment before opening them back up again. "It killed me. I couldn't bear to look at you. Instead I drove myself further and further away…and I honestly regret doing that.

Sydney tried holding back tears, but she couldn't hide them from Jack. But he ignored them and continued to speak.

"I know I don't deserve a second chance, but I'm grateful that you're allowing me one. All I want is to be your father again. To give back the time that has clearly been taken away from us…" but before he can finish Sydney hugged him once again and finally let out the tears.

As Jack held her, he wondered why he hadn't cried. Did he really mean what he had said? Or was it a silly attempt to finally bring him to redemption? Jack slowly started to pull away. Even though Jack and Sydney had finally broken the barrier between them, Sydeny still knew this was a little awkward for him.

"I think I should leave now. You need your rest if you wanna get out of here faster," she said, putting on that smile of hers.

Jack nodded and kissed her goodbye, "I'll see you soon."

She smiled at him yet again, "You can count on it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been four days since Jack was released from the hospital. Sloane has given him a month to recover. Although Jack refused it, Sloane wouldn't take no for an answer. Jack decided to make his time off worthwhile. Tonight, he was finally going to have that dinner with Sydney, and nothing was going to keep him away for their appointment, no matter what the issue may be. Jack was quietly reading a book when a knock caused him to stop. He opened the door to find Sark there.

"Mr. Bristow," he said offering his hand.

Jack quickly pulled him inside, "What are you doing here? You could have been followed."

"I assure you, Mr. Bristow, I was not. I was actually speaking with Mr. Devlin and he has informed me that you were out of the hospital."

"You spoke to Devlin…about what?" Jack asked, looking puzzled.

"I'm helping him with Irina's case. Although I must say, the real reason I'm here is because of your daughter."

"Sydney?"

"No/ Mr. Bristow…your other daughter."

"What about Vera?" Jack asked hastily. 

"I want you to know that I didn't leave her, but she forced me to….Anyway, I don't want to take up anymore of your time," Sark handed Jack an envelope.

"She wanted me to give you this. I believe she wrote it before….well, before she died," he said with a sympathetic tone.

Jack looked at the envelope and felt that is was a tad bit heavy. 

"She was a good person, you know. Despite all the things that you may have heard…she was still a good person."

Jack didn't answer. Instead, he merely shook his head. Sark was now starting to feel a bit awkward.

"Well, I think I'll see myself out."

"I'll walk you out."

As Sark was about to leave, Jack called out to him, "Sark."

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

Sark nodded and then took off. Jack tossed the letter on his desk and began to read his book again. Although this time, he was having a hard time concentrating. He must have read the same sentence five times. He knew what was bothering him. The letter. He didn't want to read it; he wanted to spare himself the pain. Somehow, though, he couldn't help but open it. As he opened it he noticed a cross was inside. He took it out and placed it on the table as he began to read.   


__

To my father,

I've always wanted to call you that, but sadly I could not. I was taken away from a family that I never knew. A life that I somehow wanted. You and Sydney may have differences but I know you two deeply care for one another. I remember the first time I learned about you two. I was curious to know who you both were. Through surveillance, I've learned things about you and about Sydney. How I envied the moments that you looked at her. Love filled in your eyes. The love that she blindly hadn't seen. Although she too has had her fair share.

When I saw you both together, I hated my mother for taking me away. I hated myself even more for staying with her. The countless times she's caused me to cry, for her, for me, and for the people that we've hurt. She gave the cross that you're holding to me. She told me that faith and God were going to help us achieve our greatness, to separate us from the weak. All my life, I told myself that God loved me, that somehow, when I pass, he'll want me. Although I know that will never happen. The life that we have will never get us there. Heaven is merely a fairytale to us. One day, however, I hope to change that. 

If this letter shall ever find it's way to you, then I really have left this Earth. I want you to remember that our thoughts become our words, and that our words become our actions. Don't let the ugly take over. We all choose our paths in life, and sadly this is what we've chosen. We can't escape it because it is what we are, but all we need to get through is our faith and our love. For love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. It is never boastful or conceited. Love is never rude or selfish. It does not take offense and it is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in our sins, but the delight in the truth. It is ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure in whatever is to come. Most of all, love is forgiving. I've learned to forgive and so should you. Always remember that I love you both, and sooner or later we shall meet. Whether in this life or the next.

Always and forever,

Vera 

Jack dropped the letter and fell on his knees. For he has done something he never thought could happen. He cried. He cried until he couldn't any longer. Jack knew that he had changed, and he knew that it was for the better.


End file.
